Friday, April 30, 2010

Skating back to my youth



Sometimes it's easy to forget our youth and childhood; those wonderful carefree days where the worries were trivial and the styles were frightening. Back in those days, I would take roller-skating lessons with my sister Sunday afternoons, and would attend the homeschool skate session every third Friday of the month. I wasn't cool, and I was quite the ugly duckling. But when I got on the rink, I was like an eagle soaring free! ...in a circle.

Last night Koko and I went to the local skate rink for the 18 and up session. Neither of us fell, and while the music left something to be desired, it was a fabulous, carefree, and somewhat nostalgic night. It helped, of course, that the rink hadn't really changed since junior high. Same gross carpet, same giant shoe car in the corner, same mural of Seattle showing the no-longer-in-existence Kingdome, and the same smell of junior high awkwardness. Compared to everyone else, we were true amateurs. There were people skating backwards, flipping around, and doing little tricks. It was intimidating, but a little inspiring. At the end, I found out that the man who had taught me to skate all those years ago still worked there.

Koko and I decided that this will need to be a regular thing, so we plan to go once a month. We really have no excuse now, since the locker rental guy gave us each a couple of free entrance passes.

May even more memories be made!

~K

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Flying Trapeze

My mom seems to have decided that my life has sunk to such a low that she actually offered to pay for what she considers to be exciting - trapeze classes. While this is certainly fun to watch on TV or at the circus, I simply do not have any inclination to fly through the air without superhero abilities. She then suggested scuba diving, to which I also declined.

Is my life so dull that it will take such extreme measures to make it somewhat exciting? I certainly hope not! As a matter of fact, my friend Koko and I are actually going out roller-skating tonight. Last night, we got manicures after work, and I later met up with my friend Kirk for 31 cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins. Tuesday night I met up with my cousin to play pool, then made my way over to Greenlake to have ice cream with my sister and some pilot friends.

Okay, this is not some amazing jet-setting lifestyle, I don't live in an extravagant penthouse overlooking the city, and my wardrobe is not even similar to a Hollywood starlet's. Yet I find my life pleasing and enjoyable. It can seem a bit predictable and stuck-in-a-rut-like, but I'm comfortable and happy.

No trapeze for me, but I will be taking a few quick trips this year. My roommate and I will be going to eastern Washington in July, Koko and I will be visiting Vancouver, B.C. for Memorial Day, and my roomie and I will be taking in all of the wonders of Vegas some time in October.

Plus, at some point this summer I plan to take a weekend to myself, somewhere secret and pretty much removed from everyone. I will explore, contemplate my life, and just breathe. No trapeze required.

XOXO!

~K

Monday, April 19, 2010

On Edge

So if you're a girl, and you have ever gone out dancing, I'm pretty sure that you can relate to what I'm about to say.

Saturday night, my roommate and I went out to a nearby club, and while the music was not ideal, we kept moving. Soon, more and more people started showing up, which was definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, with more people came The Creepers! You know them; they're the guys who hang around the edge of the dance floor, maybe standing still, maybe doing their awkward little dance by themselves. Well, they kept their eyes on us, as we were relatively close to them, and they kept either trying to force their way into dancing with us, or they'd grab an arm and say something along the lines of "Heyyyy, wanna dance?" with the meaning in their voice indicating that they expected a positive answer.

Let me just put this out there: HECK NO, I DON'T WANT TO DANCE WITH ALL YOU CREEPY GUYS!

I don't know if there is some sort of rule book for clubs, but proper etiquette dictates that you politely ask a girl to dance. You do not grind up on her. You do not assume that she will say 'yes'. Basically, you do not act like a creepy jerk.

Thank you.

~K

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Health is Overrated

So I've realized that I like meat and cheese too much to ever become a vegetarian. I know that my eating habits should change if I ever want to ready myself for bikini season, but it won't happen in such a drastic measure.

On another note, I have noticed a disturbing trend in my spending habits. I eat out or grab snacks out way too often. Despite forgoing coffee, I keep finding things at Starbucks, or I'll grab a pastry at Hoffman's. Perhaps this needs to change in order for my health to change as well.

We will see!

~K

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Time to get healthy...ugh.

Those are my feelings at the moment. While I am not fat or even necessarily overweight, like most American women, I see things in myself that I would like to improve...or not see anymore. Since I cannot break every mirror on the planet, it seems that changing my diet is a logical decision.

A little bored and wanting a different type of reading material, I decided to pick up my unread copy of Skinny Bitch. It was enlightening, and it made me want to chuck all of my food out the window. Unfortunately, I do not know how to open any of the windows, and ridding myself of all these things would leave me hungry. So I have decided that I will start adopting things that they suggest, step by step, but also finish out the food I already have.



One of the big things that this book stresses is vegetarianism. And not just standard vegetarianism, but VEGANISM. Ewww. That makes my steak-, cheese-, and all things yummy-loving blood curdle. Like I said, this is gonna be a step by step thing, and I refuse to be so strict as to deprive myself of amazing food. I will not be making any regular meat at home, but may continue indulging in salmon. I figure this should be an easy task since I usually only eat meat when I'm out.

Next up is coffee and soda. While my devotion to Starbucks has wavered, I've remained a coffee lover throughout the years. However, it has recently been upsetting my stomach, so it really hasn't been an issue. Soda will be a bit harder. I grew up guzzling soda, and this stupid book even instructs readers to give up on diet soda. GRRR. As I don't want to waste food, I will be finishing up my 2 liter of Diet Pepsi. Then...done.

Cutting out sugar and sugary-foods is going to trip me up, just as it has my entire life. However, with both parents being diabetic, and knowing that I have a sensitivity to sugar, this is long overdue. Aspartame is not an option, according to Skinny Bitch, as it creates formaldehyde and has a ton of health issues. The list of edible foods continues to shrink.

Next item to be thrown out? Dairy. Sigh. If you know me, you know I love my cheese. I'm not sure if this is gonna work out. Cheese is extremely fattening, so it really makes sense to cut it out, but does it really make sense to cut out delicious garlic and herb chevre? You see my dilemma.

All in all, I want to start eating better without being annoyingly stringent. I never want to be one of those uppity people who looks down on you when your filet mignon is brought out while they are picking away at their salad.

Wish me luck in this new adventure/dietary suicide!

~K