Why Yes! That is a Lot of Stickers

Thanks for noticing!

I've been keeping up the gym going (and super fun sticker system) for a healthy six weeks now. I'm extremely proud of (and amazed at) myself for my spectacular dedication.

And it's paying off! As of my last "weigh-in" I'd lost almost 5 inches total (they measure various places on your body every 4ish weeks) and about 2 pounds.

But what was probably the crowning moment of my gym-results experience so far was when someone that I hugged commented on my arms and asked if I was working out! Score!

Check out my stickers below. Love the Hello Kitty encouragement stickers my parents sent me for my birthday : )  Also, check out my calendar. It's kind of awesome.

In June, I made it three times a week
that's every week day I didn't have class! 

In July I gym failed on my birthday week
but that was mostly because of a school project
Notice that I went four times last week!
Would have gone five, but Batman IMAX was more important.

In Memoriam

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Yesterday I lost a cherished family member.

But, don't worry. It wasn't a person.

It was the Buick.

For those of you who aren't aware, the Buick was an amazing car that I 

sort of inherited from my grandmother while I was in high school. 

It was huge, it was red (inside and out), and it was probably the 

most comfortable car I've ever been in. 

Seriously. I could have lived in it.

I started driving the Buick during my junior year of high school after a deer 

destroyed the front and right side of my van. It still had its PA 

license plates, which I thought was super cool.

We had quite a time together. . . Here are a few of the moment's I'll never forget.

We were together when I returned to driving after breaking my foot . . .

and when I slid it under the back bumper of a jeep that same afternoon

what a nice welcome back to driving experience.

We were together when the Buick was the only car in our arsenal 

that could get up the driveway during a snow event

especially snowmagaddon 

and snowpocalypse 

once the van left the driveway, it didn't come back up for a week.
the Buick was back up that afternoon.

We were together when the Buick hit the 100,000 mile mark

on 2/16/2012 two days after what would have been

Grandmommy's 96th birthday ♥

Happy 100,000 miles Buick.
I'll miss you terribly.

We were together when I was driving to Ocean City, NJ 

and basically broke down in Towson, MD

And we were (almost) together when I rented my first car

(thanks to the Towson incident)

my first rental car!

We were together when I bought my new car

(an almost direct result of the Towson incident)

We were together for one last time after I lost my wisdom teeth

(thanks to the squirrels that incapacitated my new car)

We had a great ride together . . . I 'll miss you!

One Reason to Live Near DC

Yesterday after work I hopped on the metro and headed into the city to meet up with some friends and see . . . BATMAN!

No, I'm not a crazy batman fan (although I am a Christian Bale and Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan), but who wouldn't want to see a movie on the huge IMAX screen at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History?? It was 100% worth it. The movie was great and the screen was so big that I almost felt like I was in the movie . . . it was kind of amazing.

Anyway, I got there a little early so I hung out on the Mall and snapped a few pictures, awkward tourist style

Washington Monument

Batman IMAX here I come!

my shadow!
I felt super awkward taking this one. . .

Another highlight of the night? The amazingly absurd hat the guy in the row in front of us was wearing. I tried to snap a pic surreptitiously, but failed miserably. 

no flash + darkish movie theater = picture fail.

Never fear! I found it here!

nice and classy

Yes We Should!

Last night my classmates and I officially finished our first year of grad school. Yay!

We celebrated with a champagne toast, brownies . . .

. . . and presentations.

Oh well . . . at least there was champagne!

congratulations to us!

one year down,

one to go.

Good Job OED

The other day I was looking up a word for one of my books in the Oxford English Dictionary.

The word, Aberystwyth, is actually the name of a town in Wales, so rather than heading to my usual word reference guide (Merriam-Webster), I chose to use the OED, assuming that, being British and all, it would include this English town.

Boy was I wrong.

Sometimes its fun to be nerdy...

We watched this video recently in my marketing class and I'm pretty much obsessed with it. I love these nerdy statisticy videos. This one was done by a website called Socialnomics. If you like them too, check out this one by National Geographic to find out if you are a typical human being. In the meantime, let's be nerdy together and watch this little gem.

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I may or may not have downloaded the song in this video and it may or may not be my new happy tune... although this one still does it every time, too.

Quarter Life Crisis???

Fortunately not yet! But considering that today marks my quarter-century milestone, I feel like one should be coming on pretty soon...

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Fortunately I have lots of friends who will help me be a whole parade to make it all better!

Happy Birthday to Me!