Probably not the best idea....

But it was fun anyway! Last night, some of my coworkers and I went out to The Brass Ring to celebrate the fact that Kathy, one of the salespeople, was told that her chemotherapy and radiation were successful, and the tumor is gone from her lung! We were all so excited when she told us (she was diagnosed in August) so when she said she wanted to get together, we were all for it. It was a chance to see my friend, Nikki, too, since she no longer works here but wanted to get in on the action :)

I only intended to stay for maybe two drinks; after all, The Office was on and I didn't want to miss that. Yeah, that plan just kind of flew out the window! I ended up staying until 10 or so (we got there at 5); luckily, I had the foresight to call Dan and tell him that he needed to drive me home, so he came at about 7. His verdict is that my coworkers are certifiably crazy :) Sadly, I am NOT feeling the best today (and I have a magazine going to print! ACK!). Oh well; I'm not too under the weather, since I was able to work out at lunch.

So I'm sure tonight we'll just take it easy, especially since tomorrow we're going to the Essenhaus to celebrate my friend Melinda's birthday. That should be a good time :)

Met my goal!

So my sister-in-law, Nancy, got Dan a Wii Fit for his birthday (I got him the Wii). And we absolutely LOVE it. I've been doing it for little over a month now, and today I met my goal! I actually got up at 5:30 to exercise (I know, I know, so uncharacteristic of me) and I weighed myself, and I lost the five pounds I wanted! I'm so excited!

Of course, now I have to lose five more, and five more, and five more.... you get the picture. But still, baby steps, right? I'm just thrilled the first five pounds are off!

My favorite exercises are the advanced step aerobics, the boxing, and the hula hoop. Those three exercises (especially the boxing and the hula hoop) totally get my heart rate going. I love it! I usually do that routine Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and then on Tuesday and Thursday I do more yoga and strength training, like the lunges and torso twists. I also work out in the gym at my work 4-5 days a week.

So yeah, it's been an exercise filled month or so, but I'm happy I finally met my goal!

A Relaxing Weekend

Dan and I didn't really do jack this weekend, and you know what? I LOVED it! My living room and kitchen are now clean, my dining table is cleared off and dusted, and the only things on it are two pilgrim statues that I have out in honor of Thanksgiving. Oh, and our laundry is now put away (all 5 loads of it!), our bed had the sheets changed, and our bathrooms are cleaned. I LOVE it! Oh, and Dan got paid on Friday, so we mailed in our last payment on our bed, which means we paid it off two months before our "no interest/no payments" time frame ended. Yay!

Well, we did do a few fun things, too. Friday night we went out to eat and then went to Borders, since Dan had a gift card from my mom that he wanted to use. We had both decided that we spend too much time just vegging out in front of the TV, and we really want to spend time doing more meaningful things, like reading. So we each got a book; he got one called The Eight (I think it's a conspiracy novel or something, much like The Da Vinci Code. Don't quote me on that, though) and I got a Sandra Brown one called Envy. OMG, it was so good!! I read the whole thing in a weekend; it was one of those that you truly can't put down. And, it was really well-written, too. I highly recommend it!

Now I'm reading a book that Dan got me for Christmas called Mademoiselle Boleyn. That, of course, is excellent (and right up my alley). I absolutely love books like that. The only problem is that I don't want to read too many of them, since one of my goals is to write a historical fiction novel before I die, and I worry that reading a bunch of these books will replace my own ideas with the authors'. Oh well. It's an excellent book, though. I think I also need to read Twilight; there are so many people raving about it, and the movie comes out this Friday. I resisted reading them for awhile, since I'm a contrary sort who doesn't like to read something that everyone is all gaga over, but I learned my lesson with Harry Potter. I REFUSED to read them for the longest time, thinking, "Why on earth is everyone so crazy about a damn wizard?" Yeah, then I read them and I was HOOKED. I think I read the entire series in a month. I got so invested in the characters that I cried--repeatedly--in book 7. So, I learned my lesson, and I'm going to give Twilight a try. Vampires and whatnot aren't really my thing, but then again, wizards weren't either, and we all saw how wrong I was about that!

Old Navy Sale

So there's this coupon I had for Old Navy: 30% off your purchase. Good deal, right? Hell yeah! I went to Old Navy and got $125 worth of clothes (two pairs of jeans, three sweaters) for $87.00. Is that a deal or what? Plus, the coupon can be used again and again. Sooooo, if you are planning on going to Old Navy and you want to save some money, email me (amandaarmendariz@gmail.com) and I'll forward the coupon on to you. It's good through Sunday the 16th.

Good new recipe!

Ok, I actually made dinner last night. I know, I know, it's a rare occurrence. But it finally happened! It was called Smoked Paprika Chicken or something like that; I just found it online. But it was really, really good (and super easy; I think it took me like 5 minutes to prepare or something). Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken, 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds, quartered, or chicken parts
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon Spanish smoked paprika (Is this different from regular paprika? That's what I used)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced (I just used garlic powder and it worked fine)

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400°. Line a roasting pan or jelly roll pan with foil.

Wash chicken parts and pat dry. Arrange chicken, skin side up, on the baking pan; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. (I just used boneless skinless breasts, since that's healthier. Didn't affect the recipe at all.)

Combine remaining ingredients; rub the paste over the chicken pieces. Roast, uncovered, for about 50 to 60 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 165° when inserted into the thickest part of a thigh. Juices will run clear when the chicken is pierced with a fork. Remove the chicken to a serving platter; cover loosely with foil and let stand for 8 to 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 4.

So yeah, it was really good. Of course, I was slightly miffed, since I forgot to point the timer alert on the oven thermometer. So I'm working out to the Wii Fit, and I'm thinking, "Gee, it hasn't reached 165 degrees yet?" I go over to look and it was up to 190 b/c I didn't have the damn alert on! Grrrrr. Of course, that's my fault, but I'm going to blame the thermometer instead :)

Yay, we won!

Dan and I had a good time at the game last night. We went out to eat first at the Brass Ring, which used to have good food, but something happened. The cheese curds were very bland, and the chicken fingers tasted like they came out of a box or something. We were both unimpressed. Oh well; it was still nice to not have to cook!

Then we headed to the game; we were a bit late because it took us awhile to find parking, but that's ok. The game--it was men's basketball--was really exciting. It was close throughout most of the game; we were usually only ahead by 2 or 4 points. At the end, though, we beat them 61-47 or something like that. It was fun to cheer on our alma mater!

On a different topic, one of my favorite radio stations around here is playing Christmas music non-stop as of the first of November. Now, I love Christmas as much as the next person (it is my favorite season), but it's only November! And Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet! Plus, it really irks me that they then quit playing it on December 26. If you're going to get technical, the 12 days of Christmas start on the 25th and go until January 6, so if anything, they should not be playing it in November; but they should play it into January! But no one listens to me :)

Oh well, it's still fun to hear. I can't wait to put our tree up and get all the decorations out; we'll probably do that the weekend after Thanksgiving.

It's Tuesday already?

Ugh, it seems like it was just the weekend!

On Friday, Dan and I went and saw Changeling. It was a very well-made movie (Angelina Jolie is amazing in it and there's never a dull moment), and I love period pieces (this takes place in the 20s), but I was also disturbed by some of the storyline. Let's just say that if you prefer not to think about children getting axe-murdered, you might be upset by some portions of the movie.

We went to dinner beforehand at Pizzeria Uno; they have this great "Dinner and a Movie" deal, where you can get your tickets from them for $7 (instead of the 9.25 the theater charges) PLUS a free popcorn! We saved like $9 from eating dinner there, which we were planning on doing anyway. So I think this may become a ritual with us :)

Tonight we're going to a Badgers' basketball game. The owner of my company had some extra tickets, so he called me and asked if Dan and I wanted to go. It should be a lot of fun; I'm really looking forward to it! It starts at 7, so I'm thinking we'll go out to eat beforehand. Not sure where, yet... maybe the Nitty Gritty?

Right now I have 45 minutes left until the end of the day, but I want the day to end NOW. I'm reading the high school writing contest submissions (my magazine has a high school writing contest about 4 times a year), and I don't mean to be rude, but some of them are just painful to read. And I think I have 10 or so to go. *Sigh*.

Oh well. I'll let you guys know if the Badgers win!

The Election!

Ok, so anyone who knows me knows that I am a pretty staunch Democrat (and if you think *I'm* bad, you should talk to Dan!) So, needless to say, I was thrilled with the election last night!

Dan and I voted in the morning before work; we thought it would be a huge line, so we got there at 7:20. Ummm, yeah, we were out by 7:35 (not that I'm complaining!) But if you listened to the news reports, they made it sound like you'd have to sign your life away to cast your ballot. So we were pleased to find that was not the case.

Dan and I both worked all day, then after work, we went to Tracy and Dan's house to watch the results come in. I brought over champagne, since I was feeling optimistic early in the day. But as we were watching it, I just got more and more scared. I knew I couldn't take the disappointment I had felt the last two times when Bush won. Tracy and I were literally on the edges of our seats; the two Dans went to go pick up our Chinese food because they were too nervous to watch.

We knew it was getting close to the end; if Obama could just take California and Washington, he'd be set. But.... as we know from the last election, nothing is for sure. We wanted to *see* the victory. So when our local anchors said, "Now, we'll cut to the local NBC 15 news," we were both shouting, "NO! We don't care about this; we want to see the election!" So Tracy turned to Dan (Foster) and started talking to him, and I assumed we'd have to wait another hour or so to know anything (and this is important for me, I'm usually in bed by 9:30, so I wanted to hear the results as soon as possible!)

So I was just sitting on the couch, kind of staring at the screen in a daze, when all of a sudden the local newscast is interrupted and I saw the picture of Obama, his name, and the words "44th President of the United States." I practically shouted, "WHAT is that?" and suddenly we were glued to the screen again, and it took us awhile to actually believe it. For a second, we thought they were just showing us the "possibilities," like they would also show a "John McCain 44th President" sign as well (you know, kind of a "One of these men will be our 44th president by the time the night's over!" type thing). But when we realized Obama actually had taken it; there are no words!! Both Tracy and I started crying, the Dans looked extremely excited, and it was such an amazing night.

I cried when that one Senator (can't remember his name; he was African-American) talked about being a part of the civil rights movement, being next to MLK, Jr. and beaten bloody because he was standing up for his rights, rights that white Americans like you and I often take for granted. Just 40 years ago we considered someone like Obama a second class citizen who wasn't allowed to sit in the same section of the bus as white people, whose children would have to go to substandard "separate but equal" (yeah right) schools, and now he is freaking president of the United States! We've come a long way, baby!

McCain's speech was extremely classy and eloquent--and more importantly, sincere. I do think McCain is a good man; it's just that I disagree with his policies. But the way he conducted himself last night showed me that if he had won, he would still have our country's best interests at heart (it was his running mate I didn't agree with). And, being the softie that I am, I still felt kind of bad for him losing; he looked so sad.

And Obama's speech? Wow! Talk about inspiring hope in Americans! I was so excited that I was able to help vote in the first African-American president of the United States. Racial relations still aren't perfect, but this is a GIANT step in the right direction!

Halloween pics!

Well, one picture. We went to Tracy and Dan's for Halloween to see the girls in their costumes and hang out like we always do. Kirsti was a punk rocker, and I wasn't able to get a picture of her, since she had already left by the time we got there. Rori was Jasmine; she's so cute. :)



She was so excited it was Halloween, although she said she "only wanted to go to 10 houses." And she did! She came back with just a little bit of candy, and she was fine with that! Plus, she was sharing it with all of us! She is such a doll; I just adore her.

Halloween was remarkably warm here; she didn't need to wear a jacket or anything. And the heat wave continues. On Monday, the day before the election, Dan and I had some coupons for a $4 movie. So we walked to the theatres, which are about 1/2 mile from our house. I was wearing a skirt and flipflops; it was 65 degrees at 7 at night! And it's supposed to hit 72 today. I'm not complaining! (Oh, and we used our coupons to see Eagle Eye; it was very good!)