Ghost-licious!

Wow. I really need to make (and ingest) this cupcake. Could it be...any cuter?

I can't believe Halloween is this weekend! I'm so excited. I'm mostly excited because my new niece or nephew is arriving any day and my semester is about halfway through.

I am in the middle of writing a book review and tonight I was REALLY not in the mood to look at it again. My paper-writing shelf life is extremely short at this point in my academic career. If I get stuck, I get demotivated times a bajillion. However, with some sweet-talking from my boyfriend, I worked on it for a couple of hours and actually made some progress. Next week I have a presentation, paper, and midterm all going LIVE.

Miss Raina Pants seems to be doing all right today and yesterday, though she has a couple of good days and then randomly has a bad day where she poops all over the place and hides in embarrassment. Sa-a-ad!

I swear I had something more interesting to say but I totally can't remember it right now. I need to go to bed, clearly! Tomorrow is work --> class --> more paper augh!! I might get spoiled with a squeeze from the bf but we'll see. I'll definitely see him Thursday night, so I might just have to wait!

"The obstacle is the path"

Sunday Night Already?

Before heading up to bed, just wanted to recap the weekend and share my gratitude. What am I grateful for, you ask?

Meeting my sisters playgroup friends and enjoying a meal in honor of the little pumpkin that will be joining us soon! (17 days until it's due!) She looks so great!

Making progress on my book review (10 days until IT'S due)

Taking my sweet boyfriend to the movies and chowing down on Tandoori afterwards

Rainstorms and sunny fall days

The journey I'm on with my cat who is experiencing a little health blip. One day at a time little fuzzy!

$35 Uggs at Costco

Dinner with my Dad, stepmom, and stepbrother. In one weekend, I saw almost my entire family! Just missing were my sisters kids and husband. Feel better you guys!
I congratulated my Dad and Stepmom on ten years of stepfamily-ness. According to research, second marriages fail more frequently than first, and adding children to the mix increases the risk. The first couple of years are most challenging, of course, as adjustment is constant! Learning about my own life experiences from the experts gives me a sense of 'If I knew then what I know now..."

I can NOT stop eating lately. Is it the winter? Is it stress? Is it D) all of the above? Help!

Quick prayers and goodnight :)

Honey Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins!

I just ate one.
I made them last weekend after finding the recipe in one of Bob's yoga magazines. So easy, and so yummy! We've eaten 10! I still have a couple at home.
Another food note (I just ate lunch, can you tell? I'm happily digesting): I LOVE Amy's organic soups. My particular favorites are her Fat Free Alphabet Soup and her Low Fat Minestrone.

Looking forward to the weekend - hiking (or a movie, if it's gross out) with my two best girlfriends from work and then sugar-cookie making on Sunday! We usually make and decorate a bunch around the holidays, so that will be great. One of my friends (also my roommate) took a job in PA that starts in a month so she'll be leaving pretty soon. Not sure what the bf and I will get up to. We're in money-saving mode so we'll probably just hang low and maybe watch one of the episodes of Everest that they have on iTunes. I remember watching it on TV a while back.

I really just wanted to express my happiness about my muffins, but I really need to get back to work now!
Take care everybody, hope you're having a great day!

Baba!

Going to see Bhagavan Das in NYC at the end of the month. I can't wait! I read his book 'It's Here Now, Are You?' this past winter and am fascinated by his lifestyle, especially his roamings around India in the 1970's. Of course, he's linked to Ram Dass, who is my fave as far as spiritual teachers go.

Had my midterm tonight - it wasn't too crazy hard but of course I blanked on the first question. It came back to me as I got into the groove, luckily. Now onto the next project! I'm kind of laying low tonight, though I need to write up a reference sheet for a book review I have due next week.

My friend had a great suggestion for today when I texted her that I was a little nervous about my midterm. She wrote 'Turn it over to your hp!' HP = Higher Power.
Thanks Jules!

Tell me why....

..my cat finds it necessary to now poop all over the house. Mainly under my bed; however, last night she went for the gold and pooped on my roommate's bed. I repeat, on her BED.
Luckily it was on a fleece blanket so we could quickly toss it into the washing machine.
But hi.

I took the little fuzzbomb to the vet two weekends ago when this began. They did some bloodwork and tested her stool/urine but found nothing. Which then leads us to wonder if it's behavioral. I haven't been home AS much lately, but it's not even drastic enough for me to think it's really the cause of the issue. I can't necessarily say it's NOT, either, so when I am home I try to pay more attention to her. Also, today after work (which is in about ten minutes) I'm going off to buy a second litter box and place it upstairs so she doesn't have to go all the way down to the basement to use hers. Though...what's also interesting is that she still pees in her litter box (thank God); just poops out and about.
Sorry. I know it's not really a topic that we all want to read paragraph after paragraph about. I'm just rather perplexed.

I have a midterm tomorrow so tonight after I make my house more cat-poo-in-the-litter-box-friendly, I will be sitting down to review my notes. I'm being tested on divorce! I'm also preparing for a book review/presentation I have coming up in a few weeks - about the possibility for divorce outcomes to be positive experiences and what factors contribute. It's interesting, and I agree that people have been taught to have purely negative assumptions about divorce, and that sometimes assumptions can even shape the true experience. Kind of like...if you think negatively, what you experience is going to be negative. I've never experienced a divorce (I suppose not being married lowers my chance ha ha) but I can assume it's a pretty terrible situation, just for what it is. This book, Divorce Reconsidered: For Better or Worse, by no means discounts THAT fact, but it does talk about what helps and hurts in response to a divorce and that protective factors of an individuals life experience can assist in a more positive growth/learning experience from pain.

On that note. I'm off to buy litter for my stinky paws.
Pray for me and my midterm that we live happily ever after!

Corporate Yogi

For Better or For Worse

Sure, I'll write a little post, why not? I'm only supposed to be working on my book review! No big deal!
I'm realizing that as long as I give myself to write a paper, that's how long I'll take.

I had a marvelous weekend. So marvelous, that I'm rather certain I'll mourn the loss of it in the morning. Especially when I'm prying myself out of bed to go get on the treadmill. Last week I only managed to jog one time. This week I should at least try for two.

Back to the weekend. I'm still in it. Friday night was mellow, some homework, tea, TV with my roommate. Saturday me and the cat headed to the vet for an exam to make sure she's just pooping on the bathmat as an expression of irritation, not due to some physical issue. Any results from her bloodwork will be in tomorrow. Let's just hope she's mad!

Saturday afternoon was awesome. Bobby and I went to my niece's Tea-For-Two birthday party. Both girls, born a week apart this month, are turning two!! Ella was over the moon about new bottles and a doll carrier for her baby doll. She's going to be a great big sister, it's obvious! Ava would open a new outfit and immediately take her pants and shirt off, right in the middle of the pile of presents, in order to try the next one on.

This morning, it was off to church. Great sermon about marriage and divorce. Coincides rather smashingly with my graduate courses this semester. I like what the Pastor said - that sometime marriages get 'sick', and, like when people are sick, we do everything we can to help them heal, but sometimes, they don't, and the person, or the marriage, dies. It was nice to hear that this particular faith accepts divorce as reality, though of course doesn't encourage the overuse of it! It is rather disheartening, how MANY divorces take place.

Pumpkin patch, breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien. A barbecue grill relocation (porch project starts tomorrow!), a lovely shopping experience at Trader Joe's, and studying studying studying. Read for an hour. Had pasta w/ tofu (strange combo, but the tofu pacakge suggested it!). More work on my book review (little bit each night...it'll come together, I have faith!)

It was a beautiful day, weather wise, and I spent the weekend with loved ones. Cheers to Fall! Ew and cheers to Sunday night, I guess.

Java Jam

Just to put it out there early this morning, so I can move on with my day....
My office changed the roast of the coffee that we brew in the communal kitchen.
It's a dark roast, and it's disgusting.
Now, don't get me wrong, as I type this, I have a nice full cup of it right in front of me.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, people.

Something about slugging down bitter sludge doesn't make my mornings anymore.
However! There is a silver lining!
I DO have a coffee pot at home (so what am I complaining about, I'm sure you're wondering). I just...keep forgetting that I hate the coffee we have at the office, therefore leaving my wonderful coffee pot high and dry at home while I march on towards this morning madness.
Never again!!

Don't worry. I think one of the things that is telling of people who are really nuts is that they don't KNOW they're nuts. At least I have the insight.