Thursday, April 03, 2008

Notes from My Brain

Random, random list......this is what happens when nothing big happens, and I don't post for a week. Sorry, peeps.

1. Have I told you about my stalker here at work? Yeah. His name is Cleveland, and he stalks me. He tries to talk to me and ask me questions about my personal life. He has asked me for my phone number and if I have a boyfriend, etc. Needless to say, this is pretty awkward and not really welcome on my part. Not only do I have a boyfriend, but I would never date a student here at the school where I work, anyway -- it's just not a good thing to do professionally. Cleveland became so persistent that I had to tell him that my boyfriend would beat him up if he saw him talking to me. I also dropped heavy hints about my boyfriend's "temper", "weight-lifting" and "gun". It got so bad, that I began to wear a fake engagement ring to work, and walk to my car with other people.

He disappeared randomly and suddenly, last fall semester. I thought I was in the clear. Until this week: he requested me as a friend on myspace. It kind of freaked me out because my page is private, so there is little (if any) identifying information to be found by random people. He had to have sat there and hunted me down from some big list and remember what I look like. It kind of creeps me out. I denied the request and didn't reply to his drunken e-mail. I hope this will be the end of it. If he tries to talk to me again, I am going to call security. But part of me is freaking out a little, because what if he's a psycho and this will just royally piss him off??? Ugh.

2. It's official: I suck -- SUCK-- at dieting. At this point, I figure I might as well give up until after the cruise, because let's face it -- I'm not going to eat well while I'm on that boat. There will be a chocolate buffet, people. A chocolate buffet. Take a minute to imagine that. Yeah. I'm toast. This is in addition to the 24-hour pizza and ice cream station. So really, it's a lost cause. But I swear on all things sacred that I will go hard-core diet when I get back. I have to. Or else I will truly be a heifer. No, seriously -- it's starting to piss me off. There's no reason I can't lose at least 20 pounds. That is not even that much. I am being ridiculous, y'all. There's really no excuse.

I have been pretty good this week, after totally blowing my diet last weekend--more on that in a minute. Thank goodness I have very little junk food in the house right now. That helps a lot. I am still working out a lot, but not quite as much as I used to.

3. Speaking of last weekend, I went shopping with Barbie (aka the girl that Repo dated after me) and one of her friends. We had a good time, and I got some really cute stuff: a square-neck "going out" top in this color, an embroidered, tie-back, semi-see-through summery top in a pale dusty blue color, a cable-knit sweater for work in this color, a pair of jeans, a green/lavender/white-striped sundress and a new pair of black flats (old pair had been chewed by Toby). I also used my Sephora gift card from Xmas to buy some Nars blush. Thanks to some gift cards and great sales, I only ended up spending $100, including lunch at Steak n Shake.

Oh, how I miss S&S. We used to have one here in Columbia, but it closed down. They are my favorite burgers and shakes EVER, so I have been experiencing some withdrawals. My cheeseburger with pickles and half-chocolate/half-vanilla milkshake were so freaking delicious. It's kind of good that the closest one is an hour away from me. Or I really would be in serious diet trouble.

Although I had fun, I did get kind of annoyed hanging out with Barbie and her friend. They are both 23, and I had forgotten how immature 23 year-olds can be. I'm sure I was the same way when I was their age. So I was glad to get home at the end of the day, and away from all the drama and hyper-active ditziness. They are fun girls, but I need them in small doses.

4. I was supposed to get some Magic Hat beer for CN while I was in Charlotte. He loves it, and they don't sell it in SC. But I couldn't find any in the areas we were in. I felt really badly, because he was looking forward to it. So to make it up to him, I made him breakfast on Saturday morning: fried eggs, turkey bacon, sausage, french toast, hashbrowns and biscuits. He brought the orange juice and we had a feast!

By dinner time, I still felt like a lame girlfriend for letting him down, so I made him dinner, too: Chili Mac, which he had never had before. It's a dish popular in the midwest. You put spaghetti noodles on the bottom (NOT macaroni noodles, as some imposter recipes call for!), chili beef (which has been cooked with chili spices and beer) on top of that, then kidney beans, diced onions and lots of cheese. It is soooooooo good! It is very similar to Cincinnati-style chili, only I don't put cinnamon in it. But if you ever get the chance to try Skyline Chili or any other Cincy-style chili, you will love it! I know the cinnamon sounds weird, but trust me. Nothing beats this meal on a cold, rainy day.

5. I am still doing pretty well on the budgeting. But I can see the effects of the increasing gas prices: although I am buying the same things I buy every week, my Wal-Mart bill has been slowly creeping. All the stuff I used to buy for $50 is now more like $55-60. Ouch. In order not to de-rail all of my budgeting hard work so far, I am only bringing $200 with me on the cruise.

I figure, I have already paid for my ticket, which covers all my food. I don't drink alcohol. I will probably drink tap water for most of the cruise (I don't really drink sodas anymore). I don't gamble. I won't use their over-priced spa/salon. CN and I have decided not to spend any money on the $100-a-pop excursions. Instead, we are just going to find a beach and pop a squat. If we order sandwiches from room service before we get off the cruise ship in the morning, we can even avoid paying for lunch! The only things I am planning to spend money on include: half of the parking at the port and a few souvenirs. So I am thinking that I will be able to only end up spending about $150.

6. I am really excited about my upcoming orientation for Big Brothers Big Sisters. It will be in 3 weeks!!! I hope I do ok on the interview. I hope I like the little girl they pair me with. I hope she likes me! I was thinking of some fun activities we could do together. Here's what I've come up with so far:

take Sammy for a walk
bake a pie or cookies
color in a coloring book
play with Barbies
paint our fingernails and watch a movie (maybe a Disney princess movie??)
play a card game/board game
read books (I like reading books to kids)
go to a museum or the zoo

What do you think? If any of you (Becky!) have little girls, please share some fun ideas with me! I don't really know what kids are into these days. I'm worried she will be let down that I don't have any video games at my house.

7. I know a lot of you also read MJ's blog. Well, she doesn't really blog about her personal life anymore. She now does a dog-related blog. So that means, any dirt about her dating life will have to come from me. I would love to divulge some stuff for you, but I need to talk to her and see what she is ok with. I don't want to step on her toes. But I'll see what I can do.

8. CN and I just celebrated our 7 month anniversary. Hate to get all sappy on you, but it has been the happiest 7 months of my life. He is everything I have ever wanted or hoped for in a relationship. I honestly didn't think that men like him existed. And I know he must feel the same way, too, because he FINALLY dropped the "L" word a few weeks ago and gave me a key to his place. Aw.

Ok, more on next week's cruise coming up in tomorrow's post!!!

11 comments:

sassafras said...

Awwww VB, I'm so happy for you and CN!

Have fun on your cruise - I'm getting pretty excited myself! 2 weeks until I leave, when are you going?

Virginia Belle said...

thanks, sassafras!! i am leaving for the cruise on the 10th, so a week from now. we leave from jacksonville and go to the bahamas. where are you going??

Virginia Belle said...

oh! i forgot to tell everyone in this post that i put up a new recipe on my cooking blog. check it out!

and will someone remind me to tell you about the dream i had the other night???

PomJob said...

I think your list sounds awesome! What about going to a park for a hike or swinging? My friend does arts and crafty-things with her little sister. She also took her to an Easter egg hunt at a friend's house. She said she's really not supposed to pay for things but the BBBS here gets tickets for outing to sporting events and such.

Congrats on the L-word... how sweet! I can't believe it's been 7 months, time's flying.

Enjoy your cruise! Eat some chocolate and ice cream for me!

PomJob said...

Oh! And I think the mom's a single mom, so she took her little sister Christmas shopping for her mom. That sounded like the most fun.

Jonathan said...

Cruise time already? Yeah, I guess it is April. I know you both will have a great time.

teahouse said...

Happy 7 months!

Watch out, the next thing you know, you'll be sucked into the vortex of wedding planning hell!! For more information, see my site.

Sorry about your stalker. Yeah, that's creepy.

sassafras said...

I'm leaving on the 19th from Fort Lauderdale. Looks like you'll be able to give me some tips when you get back ;)

Phantom Hater said...

It's OK to be a little sappy. You've spared us the sap for a while, so go ahead if you feel like it, especially if you've made it 7 months and still feel so good about things. I've never really liked blogging about my personal life, but I feel that if I did that now, it'd be nothing but mushy crap, and I just couldn't do that to my readers and turn it into something like Stuck's blog. :)

CN held out for 7 months before dropping the "L" bomb, huh? Play on, playah.

As for the stalker, that sucks. I feel bad for women who have to deal with that sort of thing. I have a feeling you were probably nice in the beginning, and it played into his delusions a little. A short term stalker is one thing, but one who is still messing with you after almost a year is more serious. Hopefully the myspace thing was just a last-ditch drunken effort for a response from you and that'll be it.

I say take the kid to a dogfight, and then get wasted and go mailbox-bashing. Kids like that sort of thing.

columbiacitygirl said...

They just got Magic Hat #9 in Columbia. It is at the Mellow Mushroom and at Flying Saucer, I think. The bartender at the Mushroom said he heard it should be available in stores soon. Take CN out for a pizza....

Virginia Belle said...

jp-- ooh! those are great ideas! i hadn't thought about all of the holiday opportunities. thank you for the ideas!! i will make sure to eat some cake and ice cream and pizza for you. *salutes dutifully*

jonathan -- thanks! it's pretty hard to have a bad time with CN. he keeps me in stitches.

teahouse -- ugh. don't tell me. my coworkers are already placing bets as to when i will be engaged. it's hard not to count chickens, you know???? i will have to go see what is going on in your world. it can't be any worse than the hotel fiasco. i hope!

sasafrass -- i will definitely give you my review! make sure to check out cruisecritic.com -- i got a lot of info on there.

PH-- oh, now what's the big deal about admitting that you are as happy as a pig in mud, huh? come on, i've seen those photos!!! you are quite the smitten kitten, mister.

then again, Stuck's blog is mushy enough for all of us. *barf!*

just kidding, stuck!!!

and CN told me that he's the kind of guy who would rather show me he loves me than tell me. which is good, because that's what i prefer, too. i could tell from his actions that he was in love months ago. aw.

i do hope this is the last i hear about my stalker.

and i will add your ideas for big/little sister to my list. they are the best ones yet! thanks!

columbiacitygirl -- oh, trust me, CN knows. we "had" to go to the flying saucer last weekend so he could drink some! LOL he likes to have it at home, and everything we have heard says that it won't be for sale in stores until this summer. but thank you for sharing! didn't know it was at mellow mushroom....hmmmm....i love their pizza....you might have an idea!