HobbiesHobbiesHobbies!

Hi, my name is Angie and I have an addictive personality. My particular addiction manifests itself in hobbies. I like taking classes and trying new things and the thing I've recently realized is that all hobbies come with their own set of expensive equipment. Here's a quick snapshot of some of my hobbies and the ridiculous amounts of stuff that they require:

*Scrapbooking -- oy vey there's no words to even describe all the shiz you have to have in order to do this particular hobby. I've gotten rid of nearly everything since I rarely if ever participate in this anymore but there's still all kinds of stuff a person needs to even make a quick thank you card.
*Photography -- cameras, lenses, tripods, memory cards, etc etc etc. Oh, and the classes that go with this and the fact that you need to have a relationship with a good printer so that all your hard work looks great.
*Baking -- when I moved back from New York I owned nothing and when I started baking originally it was to fill the void of no-good baked goods in this town. It later morphed into a very important coping/therapeutic tool but let's just say that I used to bake a lot. And baking requires a bazillion tools. Every time I made something new I had to buy or borrow something to complete the project.
*Cake decorating -- my obsession with baking died out for the most part but then I started cake decorating or in my case cake destroying. I wish I had known how incredibly sucky I'd be at this before I bought every single tool a person could or would need.
*Biking--so yeah you need a bike. And a helmet, and a pump and that green goo, and a water bottle, and a bike lock and then you need a new bike because the bike you have is a piece of shiz and requires WAY more work to get around town than it should.
*Jogging--obviously you need good shoes but did you know that good shoes only last so long? I've been jogging since Spring and already I had to buy new shoes the end of June. Not only good (expensive) shoes, but $20 socks that don't slide, and a knee band, and a stop watch, and razor back tanks, and good pants that hold in all the flab, and an armband for my phone and a fully charged shuffle so I don't lose my mind while jogging and something to hold water on long runs, and blah blah blah.

I could go on and on but I'm starting to sound like the crazy person I am so I will stop now. I did just realize that Blogging requires nothing extra. Hmmm, this might be my new favorite hobby.

Sweet is the Smell

This morning while I was running I realized that my neighborhood is one gigantic combination of scents -- some wonderful and some not so wonderful. The first leg of my run I always smell fabric softener which is truly one of my favorite scents. One of these days I will run into someone using the stuff that the hot Dominican guy who did my laundry in NYC used and I'll knock on their door and ask what it is. I've been searching for that scent for years. So, first I get the sweet pleasure of smelling fresh laundry. Then, as I run down the hill and around the corner on 1200 I get to smell a combination of some kind of animals. One day I ran into a sheep but usually it is dogs and horses. Then further up the block I run past the house that ALWAYS no matter what time I'm running: early morning, afternoon, night smells like pot. Further up the block as I pass 200 I get to smell more horses -- there are a lot of random homes with horses in the neighborhood--the zoning is all wacky if you ask me. As soon as I turn onto State Street and way before I can even see it I begin smelling the wonderfulness that is Smoking Apple BBQ restaurant. Even at 7 a.m. that place smells incredible and makes me think I want to eat dinner. I wish I could go on smelling BBQ but shortly after that fades into the wind I get the unbelievably powerful scent of dogs that probably aren't being taken care of. They used to bark like crazy when I ran past their cage but they know me by now and so they sit and I smell and then I hold my breath as long as I can (really hard when you are trying to control your breathing while jogging--especially at the top of a hill). Finally after the nasty scent of gross dogs leaves my nose I get the also not so pleasant smell of pesticides from the fruit trees. Yes, there are still fruit trees in Orem. And finally and happily after the fruit trees I get the wonderful sweet smell of home and a successful run!

P.S. It isn't lost on me that one of the scents I get to smell is my nasty self at the end of the run. Thank goodness for soap and shampoo and a hot shower!

Things that Remain Constant

The world is continually changing or at least my world is but some things remain constant.

*There will be a Thursday morning wardrobe meltdown resulting in tears and in me being late to work.

*Even though literally I only know four people in my neighborhood I will inevitably run into someone I know while jogging.

*I will spend a large portion of the day freezing in my office. Even the space heater barely makes a difference. (CJ how did you stand it in here?)

*Diet coke will make me happy. Especially on the 9 o'clock drink run with my bullyesque friends.

*I will get lots of hugs from Zacky this afternoon while I'm babysitting. We will also probably watch some kind of action movie while he pretends to be Spiderman, Harry, or Angel (yes, friends he thinks he's Angel).

*Someone in my building will have some kind of crisis that I will be forced to help fix. I'm the fixer and have recently discovered that no one really talks to me unless they need help solving a problem.

Yay, Thursday!

Crazy, Stupid Love

A few weeks ago I was confiding in my friend Kendra and telling her about some of the stuff I've been going through lately including dealing with a broken heart and she commented like all good friends should with "What is wrong with men?" Well, let's be honest, there's a lot wrong with men but not with this particular guy. He's the perfect combination of smart (he even reads), sexy and sweet. He's even a bit snarky which is of course why I love him. He gets me like no one has gotten me in ages. He can tell when I'm truly happy, when I'm faking it and knows when all I need is a hug. "Ang, are you ok? I know you aren't. What's up?" He's also one of the easiest guys to talk to. He just doesn't feel about me the way I feel about him. I know he likes me and for the longest time I wanted him in my life so much that I tried really hard to just be friends because before I fell for him I loved him as a friend. When he asks me about other guys my whole body cringes because who wants to talk to an A-List guy about the B-List guys that do not matter? Yes, I stole that from Felicity but it is a perfect description of how I feel when we would talk about other relationships.

A couple of weeks ago I decided it would be best to keep my distance for a while so that I could get over him and stop thinking about him All The Time. Except that still 12 times a day whenever anything funny happens or someone does something insane at work I think "Oh, I can't wait to tell...."

This particular broken heart is quite a bit different from what I'm used to because I don't hate him. I don't want to stab him in the face or push him off a cliff. Not only do I not hate him but I think because of that this situation has resurrected some very bad demons that I truly believed had been exorcised from my soul. Bringing up all the old insecurities, self esteem issues and self-loathing. Oh my gosh make it stop! It might help if I stopped listening to the same six songs over and over. I'm actually quite proud of myself that I've expanded from the same two songs to six but still--can't be helping.

Peace. Peace. Peace.

Me and MyFitness Pal

Several months ago I started using an awesome little app called MyFitness Pal. I had the app on my phone, on my iPad and logged in each day from work. MFP helped me lose a bunch of weight by helping me track calories eaten and the calories I burned while exercising. For a while MFP gave me happy praise each and every day. He also told me when my friends were doing well and when I needed to remind them to step it up and get back on track. Everything was grand until I stopped exercising as much and kept eating as much as I wanted. Then at the end of the night MFP would say mean things like if you keep eating at this rate you will be fat in the next five weeks--or other hateful things. So then I stopped using it and it still kept E-mailing me messages reminding me of its power and glory. I've ignored the E-mails and reminders until today. This morning my favorite black dress pants do not fit in the manner in which I'd prefer so I made the monumental decision to beg MFP to take me back.

Now we're dating again and hopefully this time I'll live up to my end of the bargain and do what my boyfriend MFP tells me to do. Damn, it sounds like 1956 in here.

Project Picture of the Day

So far in 2011 I've been working on a picture of the day project. Most of the time taking one picture a day to feature in my book has been no big deal but sometimes I've had to get a bit creative. I take my camera everywhere including on my bike and lately I've had a few close calls and have learned some valuable lessons:

Most Valuable Lesson so far -- when taking a stealth picture of a stranger TURN OFF YOUR FLASH! This has gotten me in trouble at least three times that I can think of:

1) taking a picture of a grown woman wearing embroidered peacocks on her pants.
2) taking a picture of a really ugly bumper sticker while sitting on the on-ramp on the freeway
3) just this morning in line at McDonald's I saw one of those freaks with the vinyl families on their car but this one was Jesus fish vinyl family. I had had had to take a pic of that and once again forgot to turn off my flash. The woman followed me for a few miles until I turned off to go to work.

One of these times I'm going to get my ass kicked.

Turn off the flash Millet.

Power of a Thank You

A few minutes ago someone just told me thank you for doing something relatively unimportant for them and it got me thinking about how much I love that phrase. It's a really simple phrase but it truly does mean a lot. At least to me it does. It makes me smile. Makes me feel good and makes me want to help you more in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you for covering for me for a week and postponing necessary medical treatments for yourself so you could do my horribly stressful job.

Yeah, that one I'll never hear but if I say it enough in my head maybe I'll convince myself that I did hear it and that it was genuinely real and heartfelt.