What All Men Should Know

 

I feel I should preface this by saying that this did not happen to me recently, but has happened in the past.

Although, Blue Hat was fairly recent.

Read on….(please?)

 

So, you meet a guy, you hit it off, things are going well. 

Unless of course, you’re me, and you meet a guy you actually like, you hit it off, and he tells you-after you’ve spent the entire evening talking, laughing, and dancing-that he has a “long distance acquaintance” in Boston.

 

Mmmmkay.

 

But he, whose name, by the way, is Blue Hat-is not the point of this story. 

So, back to the guy.  You know, the one you’ve been seeing.  It’s been a few weeks or so, you have long talks about things, and you’re getting to know one another. Somehow it comes up that someday you eventually want to get married and have kids. 

Pause.

What all men need to understand, is that while most of us women probably do want to get married and have kids, we don’t necessarily want to do those things with you.

We barely know you.

For all we know at this point, you can’t cook and you don’t do your own laundry.

Maybe in the summer you wear those high socks that come up to mid-calf. (Hi Dad)

Both deal breakers, by the way.

The point is, there’s still a lot of “must haves” to cover and you’ve got a lot more wining and dining to do before we ever consider marrying you.

We’re simply telling you that’s where our lives our headed, so that if perhaps you have no interest in getting married or having children, we’d rather know now. 

Pardon us for not wanting to waste our (or your) time.

But unfortunately it seems that what boys men hear is "PLEASE MARRY ME!!! PLEASE!!! PRETTY PLEASE!!”

Puh-leeze.

You should be so lucky.

Neeeeeeeeext!

The Time Netflix Made Me Cry

Ok fine. That might be a bit dramatic and similar to “killing the messenger.” But still…

This movie?

 (Source)

Grab the tissues, folks. And if you haven’t seen the movie and plan on watching it, you should probably stop reading.

 

 

It arrived innocently enough in my mailbox on a Thursday.  I planned my Friday evening accordingly, picked up Chipotle for dinner, and settled in. I was looking forward to watching a nice romantic “there’s hope in love” type of movie.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is that kind of movie. 

Except no one told me that she had early onset Parkinson’s and that he would love her anyway.

Despite the fact that he is warned by a third party that as her disease progresses, he will be cleaning up her poop, dressing her, and basically taking care of her for the rest of her (or his) life.  Despite the fact that there is no cure. 

They break up after he carts her all over the U.S. looking for a cure and she blames him for trying to “fix” her.  Then there’s the Big Gesture, and they’re back together. Needless to say the ending made me cry.

Things like this were said:

“I’ve never known anyone who actually believed that I was enough until I met you. And then you made me believe it too.”

“Let’s just say in some alternate universe, there’s a couple just like us, okay? Only she’s healthy and he’s perfect. And their world is about how much they’re going to spend on vacation or who’s in a bad mood that day, or whether they feel guilty about having a cleaning lady. I don’t want to be those people. I want us. You. This.”

Happily Ever After. Plus incontinence, apparently.

I admit, I thought to myself ”…and I can’t even get a date?”

But then I remembered that I like being single.

Whew!

Muscles

A few weekends ago I was out with some girlfriends for a night of dancing.  We hit up several clubs, but nothing really struck our fancy so we ended up meeting some guy friends at a local Mexican bar/restaurant.

A bunch of guys were there playing life-size Jenga, which I hadn’t seen before I moved out here but I’ve noticed is quite popular.  I’ve seen it at several different places when I’ve been out and about.

 (Source)

I wanted to play, but needed a partner and none of my girlfriends wanted in. 

Enter: Muscles.

 

(Source)

 

He came to the rescue and offered to be my partner, obviously having earned his name (in my head, only) for being very muscular.  He was easily 6’2” and 220lbs all muscle.  If we had had a first date, I would have been forced-by my own curiosity and mouth diarrhea- to ask him if he has ever taken steroids.  Considering the effects steroids can have on certain body parts, I believe I have a right to know.   

Muscles’ real name was Charlie, except he pronounced it Chahhhlie.

 

Only he wasn’t British, he was from Long Island. 

Before it was our turn to play, Muscles and I sat on bar stools and chatted for a bit.  I probably should have left when I sat on the barstool and my knee hit his leg.  Here’s why:

He said “ow!”

I laughed because I thought he was kidding. 

He looked at me and said “no, really, you hit me right there (pointing to his thigh) and it hurt.” 

He wasn’t kidding.

I ordered another beer.

He suggested we play a game he called “Five Questions.”  He explained it to me while I stared at him, and apparently he thought I didn’t understand the game so he explained it again.  When in fact, I was just wondering why it was called a game when it was really just two people asking each other five questions.

While we exchanged questions-favorite food? favorite memory? major in college?- I privately debated the long-term potential of someone whose favorite food was “grilled chicken.”

 (Source)

Then he proclaimed that at some point my finger had “hit him in the eye” and hurt him.  Again, I stared at him blankly wondering how my finger even got near his face. (I’m pretty sure it didn’t). And also wondering how such a big guy could be such a baby.

Strike two? three? I was losing count by now.

We played Jenga, and we lost.  But not on my watch, thankyouverymuch.  He asked if he could kiss me and I said no.

He then asked me where I wanted to go on our first date.

Me: “I really like restaurants.”

Muscles: “How about mini golf?”

Strike one million. FORE. Something.

Now, I did give him my number because let’s be honest-all other things (like, brains) aside, he was cute and had an awesome body. Perhaps he’s just not good at flirting. Or talking in general. 

I try to give second chances.

I also volunteer.

However, the next morning I began feeling anxious that he would call because, you see, I’m just getting to that point where I enjoy being single and I’m happy with the way things are.  I don’t want anyone to mess that up.

Luckily for me, he didn’t call.  It was probably because I rolled my eyes when he suggested mini-golf.  I couldn’t help it, I really like restaurants. 

Although today my heart did skip a few beats when a number I didn’t recognize popped up on my caller ID. 

Thankfully it was just my new car insurance agent.

Crisis averted.

Video Post: Hiking Camelback Mountain

Rock Climbing at Ape Index

Hey friends! So, a while back I bought a Groupon for a one-day indoor rock climbing pass at Ape Index in Peoria, AZ.  I bought two with the plan to use them while my sister was in town visiting.  It was the first time rock climbing for both of us, and we both thought it was kind of scary! And also, very hard.  Here’s a fun video compilation of our experience-check it out!

P.S. This is the first video I’ve ever posted, I hope you enjoy!

Next video post: Hiking Camelback Mountain

Why You Should Shop at Goodwill

Good morning! I was thinking I should have started last night’s post with “Please excuse the mess…”

But then again, I prefer the term “lived-in” rather than “messy.” It works for me.

So I have been getting into couponing lately, and while I’m definitely still learning a lot, it’s been working well for me so far.  I know I still have so much to learn but soon I hope to be getting a lot of things for freeeee! More details on that in another post.

Now, part of couponing is having the ability to print coupons. So obviously, you need a printer. I am on a serious budget, so whenever I need something like that I check out Goodwill first.  When I lived in Florida there weren’t that many Goodwill retail stores, but out here they are everywhere. Today I went there and scored this Canon i450 printer for $9.99:

I was hesitant to see if it worked but figured I would take a chance. I picked up a black ink cartridge (the color one was still full!), brought it home and hooked it up to my laptop.  After a few frustrating moments where I thought the computer wasn’t recognizing the printer, I re-started it and everything went smoothly. I then did a test print, and it made all the printing sounds but no ink came out on the paper.  After some Googling for help, I cleaned the printer head (or whatever it’s called) a couple of times and presto! It worked!  So for less than $20 ($9.99 for the printer plus $8-ish for the black ink at Office Max) I got a printer!

Victory was mine!

Some other recent Goodwill purchases I’ve made:

My little 4-cup Mr. Coffee coffeepot $4.99

I brought it home, cleaned it up and ran a mixture of vinegar/water through it several times, and then just straight water for about 5 cycles and it works perfect-it even has a delay button so I can program it to go off when I wake up!

Chefmate toaster $4.99 (It might have even been $3.99)

Again, cleaned it up and turned it on a few times (sans bread) so it could burn off any dust/dirt that I couldn’t clean, and now it works great!

Goodwill has tons of clothes (I haven’t even begun to conquer that area yet) as well as dishes, appliances, some furniture, books, everything. 

Now, some things you should be aware of:

-They don’t clean anything. Literally it goes on the shelf exactly how it’s dropped off to them. [For example, the vacuums still have stuff in the bags]. This means it’s going to be dusty, and need a little TLC to get it into use-able shape, but you can save a lot of money if you don’t mind using used items. 

-When you’re buying an electronic device, it’s always best to make sure it works beforehand.  Now obviously they don’t have a laptop you can hook it up to and see if it prints, but they do have an “electric station” where you can plug it in and make sure it at least turns on, etc.

-If you take it home and it doesn’t work, they have a 14-day return policy with the following requirements:

1) you have your receipt

2) their sticker is still on the product

3) you return it within 14 days of the purchase date

4) you will only get store credit for the purchase amount

The cool thing about Goodwill is that the money you spend goes towards supporting job training and placement programs for people with disabilities.  Some stores even have a job placement/training center located within them where people can go for help.  Check out their site for more info.

Why I Do Dishes:

Fear of bugs.

That’s it.  Dishes are my most detested chore, but I do them because I have a fear of cockroaches/spiders/ants/you name it.  

[Side note: Check out this icon I just made by accident:  ] Neat.

For such a small apartment, it sure does get messy fast! Needless to say, earlier my kitchen looked like this:

And now it’s squeaky clean, with all the dishes air-drying on the counter.  Oh yes, that’s another thing- I never dry my dishes.  I let them air dry, and only put them away when I need the counter space. 

Ahh, the joys of living alone. I love it.

In other messes news:

(laundry that didn’t quite dry in the dryer)

(and coupons that have been clipped but are waiting to be catalogued)

Speaking of coupons, I had two of those BOGO coupons for Chipotle and I used one the other day, but I lost the other one! I’ve looked through the garbage and sifted through lots of papers, but it’s nowhere to be found. I don’t get it, it’s not like my apartment is a mess….

I’m off to rustle up some Pledge.

Some Blog Changes

Hey there!

I’ve got a few changes coming at ya, so please proceed with an open mind!

As you’ve probably seen, I haven’t been blogging my daily eats lately.  This is in part due to time (I’m running out of it!) but also because the format of this little bloggie will be changing, just slightly.

When I started blogging, I captured all my eats/workouts/etc everyday, and I was throwing up horrid pictures of yellow food accompanied by a few random sentences.  Then I decided that wasn’t for me and I switched to just blogging about life with an emphasis on food/exercise.  My pictures got a little better, my content got a bit more interesting.  Then when I moved, I decided to revert back so I could document every single part of my journey.  I had more time, and my pictures were decent.  My original and intended plan was to blog my little heart out several times a day until I found a job and, if I didn’t find a job, I’d hoped that blogging would slowly become my job.  The only catch is that I found a job I love, and it happened so fast! So here we are!

What I want to do:

-Focus more on my life in general, and less on eating/running.  Let’s face it, I’m simply not running as much as I used to. I still have the goal to run 30 races before I’m 30 and a full marathon (either at the end of this year or beginning of 2012) and I will absolutely blog about my training, the experience, etc.  Also, now that I’m working full time away from home-AKA less time to make fun creative eats every day-a lot of my meals are repetitive. 

I’ve eaten spaghetti three times this week, and veggie soup 4 times.  <—‘nuf said.

-I want to be able to take more time in writing quality posts-instead of throwing up a post 2-3 times per day, I will still blog once per day during the week, and weekends will be determined as they come. 

-I still want to share all the fun details of my journey to Arizona and exploring my new city

- I will still blog about some awesome workouts, recipes, restaurants, etc…none of that will change!

-I will still make drawings in Paint for you

Yes, I gave myself a bubble-butt in this picture. That will continue as well.

There will be a domain change associated with this, one that I believe fits more accurately with this new direction.  And I’m also in the process of switching over to self-hosting. 

Whew!

I’ve always known this change was coming, but I didn’t realize it would happen so soon.  Like most serious bloggers, I have a vision in my head-a plan, if you will-of where I want this blog to go in the future as well as where I want myself and my life to go. 

All these changes won’t be happening right away-probably over the next month or two-as there is a lot involved.  I’ll need a new header-anyone want to design it for me? Email me at rayapickett [at] gmail dot com and I can give you the details of what the new domain will be.  I can’t afford to pay right now (unless it’s uber cheap), but I’ll give you lots of credit in links and tweets!

 

If you have a blog, do you have a plan for it? Or do you just wing it?

My New Home: A Work in Progress

Good morning and Happy March!!!

I’ve spent the past week or so adjusting to my new place and getting things situated.  I’ve purchased a few things in terms of “light” furniture (bar stools, a TV stand, etc) and I still have a couple more pieces to go but here it is so far:

Remember, it’s a studio apartment so it is small!

Bathroom/Closet area:

Living room/sleeping area and porch:

Do you like my baby TV? Hehe

Kitchen/dining area:

 

Recent purchases at Ikea:

The gray rug w/ white flower design – $20

TV table (walnut finish) – $30 on clearance <—assembled myself

Metal “Pantry” shelf in kitchen – $15 <—assembled myself

 

Recent purchases at Target:

Bar stools – $25 each <—assembled myself

Wall quote – $17 <—pain in the butt to stick on the wall but looks great!

 

And now I’ve got my eye on this baby from Ikea:

I’m trying to convince my parents to gift it to me.  It’s a sofa bed, so it folds out into a bed (similar to a futon) which is perfect for guests.  And it’s the perfect size for my teeny “living room” and it matches the gray rug I bought! I just want to get a couple throw pillows to spruce it up a bit, make it a bit more colorful. 

I also want to get a room divider (I keep calling it an accordion wall) similar to this:

(Source)

Or this

(Source)

And I want to put it as the “divider” between my bed and the living room area.  The sofa bed would then back up to the room divider just as it normally would to a regular wall.

I think it’s the best way to make the best use of the space I have.  Also, the dresser that you see in above picture (next to the TV stand) is the one thing I’m considering sending back to my brother’s house.  There are built in drawers and shelves in the wall, so I may not need the dresser itself right now.  I’ve got to see how things work out-I don’t want to deprive myself of storage, but I want to be “space-efficient” at the same time.

I’m not completely done yet, still have some things to hang on the walls, possibly curtains to put up, and a few more odds and ends.  But for now, it is what it is…

So what do you think? Any space-saving tricks or advice for me? Keep in mind that I hope to only be here for a year and want to start looking for a townhouse to buy when my lease here is up.  AKA I won’t be painting any walls.

Spring Training Game

I’m settled in, finally! Pictures of my new place will be up in the morning.

Sunday afternoon I met up with my brother because we had plans to go to a baseball game! Phoenix is home to several teams spring training schedules and there are several ballparks around the area to accommodate all the teams.

Today was the first day of spring training in and around Phoenix and our game was Indians vs. Reds-That’s Cleveland and Cincinnati…Ohio in the house! 

This game was held at the Goodyear ballpark, which was a really nice field! And the weather held up beautifully-It was actually supposed to rain, but we got lucky and the rain stopped early in the morning and never came back. Woo!

 

My brother and I each picked a team to root for (so we were rooting against each other)-I picked the Indians and he chose the Reds. For the first few innings, no one scored a run but then my team picked it up and scored FIVE runs in one inning!  Unfortunately, in the next inning or two the other team caught up and the Reds ended up winning 7-6.  It was a close game though (which makes it good!) and it really came down to the very last pitch.

So fun!

I will be the first to tell you that I pretty much know nothing about any baseball teams or players.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total girl-I know the rules of the game (I used to play softball) and all that, but I probably still couldn’t name a single current baseball player other than a few of the Yankees players.

I do however, in general, tend to like any live sporting event.  I will never watch baseball on TV (or basketball, for that matter) but I think going to games are fun! Actually, the only team sport I enjoy watching on TV is football.

 

Is there spring training in your area? Do you enjoy going to live sporting events?