A Benefit of Cleaning

Last night, as I was cleaning out a magazine rack in my bedroom, I found the phone number of an old friend of mine from High Point who has moved to Vermont. I decided to call and see if she was still at that number, and she is! It was so much fun to catch up with Ann! She sounded good, and content, and happily married.

It's a good feeling to throw away old clutter and catch up with an old friend, all in the same night.

The Secret

I finished reading Rhonda Byrne's The Secret over the weekend. The DVD has been played several times at the Rice House, but it always happens on a Monday night when I have another commitment, so I nabbed the book from the New & Noteworthy bookshelves at work. Well, It was a pretty interesting read! It's about the Law of Attraction, a lot of positive thinking, "what you think about, you bring about." Parts of the book made it seem pretty simplistic, leaving out some steps between the positive thinking and the new Jaguar or the million dollars. But I can definitely see that there's SOMETHING to it.

Insights on Apartment Hunting

George and I have had an interesting time apartment hunting. In addition to learning our way around this side of the Triangle a little better, I also learned more about myself, George, and our relationship as a couple. It's been interesting, too, to see the different levels of customer service at the different complexes. Part of what sold me on the place we've chosen was the attentiveness, patience, and attitude of the front office staff. We applied at two places that never called us back. One place just cashed my application check yesterday, and we applied a week and a half ago! At the other place, the woman kept acting put (with a breathy "uhh"), and kept talking about how they may have a possible eviction so that a place could open up for us. At yet another place, the lady directed everything at George, at least until we straightened her out, tactfully but with straightforwardness,

At our new place, they were helpful all along the way, and called us in less than 24 hours to let us know we were approved. It's really nice knowing!

By the way, there's a Lowe's Foods nearby our new apartment complex that sells Red Raspberry Diet Rite! Yippee!! The grocery store near me doesn't have that flavor anymore, and I've missed it.

Moving in June

George and I have been approved for our new apartment, and will be moving in June! We're so excited! It's a very nice apartment complex, and our apartment will be much bigger than we're used to. It's in a nice area as well, convenient to shopping and what not. It'll be a longer commute for both of us, but not by too much. Picture to the above, more later!

Apartment Hunting

George and I spent more time on apartment hunting. It's interesting to do this together, as a couple, planning to move in together. It's taken our relationship to a different level, as it should! Our favorite is actually on the Durham/Wake County line, very close to Brier Creek. More to come!

Finding Balance

I've had shorter gym workouts the past couple of mornings that have allowed me to get into work earlier. It's been nice getting to work earlier and getting my workday off to an earlier start, but I'm missing the accomplishment of a full hour's workout to start my day. I've been a little tired since an extra busy Monday, so I need to make sure I get enough rest as well. It's a big balancing act, and I'm still searching for the best way.

High School Reunion

I went to my 25th high school reunion at St. Mary's in Raleigh on Saturday. There were about a dozen from my class there, and it was fun to see them and walk around campus. I wish more had shown up, but it was great to see the ones who were there. Since then, it's had me reflecting on where I've been, where I'm heading, and where I want to go.

A New Spiritual Practice

I've been thinking about ways to cultivate my spirituality as I find my way at ERUUF and in life in general, and a new spiritual practice fell into my lap about a month ago. As I've menioned before, I got an iPod for my last birthday, and I few weeks back I discovered a number of sermons from Duke Chapel on Yahoo Podcasts. I've enjoyed listening to the sermons by a variety of preachers (one of the nice things about Duke Chapel), and several of them have really spoken to me, given me some things to thing about. Today I found some sermons from the First Unitarian Society of Madison, the largest Unitarian-Universalist congregation in the US, on iTunes, so I loaded them, but haven't had time to listen to them yet.

I've found that listening to the sermons during my exercise routine can be an interesting spiritual exercise (depending on the sermon, of course!). Whether I'm on the elliptical machine or out walking, listening to the words is better than television, and the length (about 20 minutes on average) is just about right for my attention span, then I'm ready for some music or another podcast. But for those 20 minutes, I often become a little more in tune with my inner self, all while working on my outer self. It's an interesting feeling, for sure! It's a way to get fed spiritually, though, as I'm changing my physical eating habits. This is already helping me on my spiritual path

Duke news

The remaining allegations against the former Duke lacrosse players were dropped yesterday...at least that's when the news broke. I'm relieved that the main issues have been resolved, but damage has already been done. The boys' lives have certainly been changed forever, that's for sure. Allegations aside, I do think they used poor judgement by having the party with the underage drinking and the stripper, and the repurcussions of their actions have had ripple effects across the university as well as the city. I hope some good things come from this in the long run.

The news trucks are back on campus, though not as many as this time last year, and just in time for Reunion Weekend (again). Speaking of which, I hope to see cousin Cynthia sometime over the course of the next week.

George and I

Last Sunday, Lee, an acquaintance at ERUUF (church), took my picture to put with the other pictures of new Pastoral Listeners. George was with me, so she took a picture of the two of us. This one was my favorite!

Weekend Adventures

Saturday, George and I went apartment-hunting all over Durham on Saturday. We haven't made a decision yet, still trying to hash it out. One of my projects for the week is to make a chart and fill in info about each apartment to help with the decision-making.

I'll be happier when we can do this about buying a home.

Yesterday we went to ERUUF for Easter. It wasn't quite like the Easter services I grew up with and miss, but I did join the choir for singing the "Hallelujah Chorus" as the choral postlude. That was an uplifting experience for me!

More cleaning

This weekend I did more cleaning and purging as I think about this summer's move. It's a great feeling to clear things out, and in the mean time it's a walk down Memory Lane. Yesterday I came across a bunch of pictures that need to do in photo albums at some point, pictures that included my years of teaching 1st and 2nd grades, my cross country trip with Lisa, Mom, Laura, and Emily, trips that my friend Donna and I took to Wilmington and Savannah, beach trips to Pine Knoll Shores with my family, my friend Anne's wedding in High Point, a trip to Maine for my cousin Christina's wedding, and a trip George and I made to the North Carolina mountains. It was a lot of fun to look through all those photographs, eventhough it slowed down my cleaning a little!

Blog name change

I've decided to update the title of my blog, partly on a whim (is that a good idea?!)! One of the new tunes I've added to my iPod is "The Time of Your Life," sung by Randy Newman, from the movie "A Bug's Life." It's a charming song for a cute movie, and the song's chorus is sort of a new mantra for me, a reminder to continue on my path to treat my body and soul better, to remember that anything worth doing is worth doing well, and to continue to connect with friends and family.

It's the time of your life
So live it well
It's the time of your life
So live it well
We may only go 'round one time
As far as I can tell
It's the time of your life
It's the time of your life
It's the time of your life
So live it well

Date Night

George and I had an inpromptu date night last night, went to see the movie "Premonition," with Sandra Bullock. Reviews were mediorce, but it was a decent movie to see on a Thursday night. There were only 6 people (including us) in the movie theater, so it was relaxing and kinda nice, almost felt like a private showing. Mainly, it was nice to have a night out with George. We've just been so busy lately!

Beautiful Weekend!

It's been a beautiful weekend, weather-wise, here in Durham. The temperatures have been mild, the humidity relatively low. Ahhh! I think I'll open up my windows this evening--why has it taken me all weekend to think of that?!

George and I participated in the community walk portion of the Great Human Race 5K in Durham yesterday. It was nice to get out and walk together outside in the great weather yesterday. I was glad I decided not to run the 5K, just wasn't ready after last weekend's breakthrough (for me) run in Raleigh.

This morning at ERUUF, the new class of us Pastoral Listeners was installed. I'm looking forward to being part of that program. I've gotten to know a number of people better already through it.

After my Sunday afternoon nap, I started working on cleaning out my dresser drawers. Feels good to be making progress on clearing out and getting better organized.

Run for the Oaks 5K

The Run for the Oaks 5K road race in Raleigh was a surprising success for me, as I was able to run (ok, jog!) the whole thing--and felt fairly strong at the end, to boot! I was excited to break 50 minutes as well, which has been a goal of mine for several months now. Finally completing a 5K race at a jog has opened my eyes to the possibilities of doing 10Ks and beyond again. It's been a dream of mine to run a marathon, but now it seems to be a little more of a reality. :-)

I'm still waiting for the chip results to be posted at runnc.com, but best I could tell, I finished in about 46 and a half minutes!

ADDENDUM: My chip time was 46 minutes, 30 seconds! Yay!

My Apartment

It dawned on me over the weekend that part of my stress about moving this summer is that I haven't spent the time I need to to get my apartment cleaner and more organized. Part of the stress, too, is that moving will fall at the end of the fiscal year at work! Yikes! But there are many things I can do now to get ready for moving AND the end of the fiscal year, SOOOO time to get going! I made good progress on my apartment yesterday afternoon, which felt good. The I met George at the laundromat to visit for a bit while he did his laundry, and we ended up meeting anc chatting with a nice couple. That was a pleasant surprise. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday!

Getting involved

Last night was my last training class for Pastoral Listening at ERUUF. It was a good session, and I was a little sad to see the training come to an end. On the other hand, I'm excited about this new way to be involved at church.

The Run for the Oaks 5K is coming around on Saturday. I'm excited about that, and hope my finish time is faster than my last 5K in December. Actually, I'm hoping to break 50 minutes.

What's By My Bed

I picked up The Devil in the White City (by Erik Larson) recently at Barnes and Noble as a reward to myself gor hitting a particular weight loss goal, and though I'm not very far into it, it's an intriguing read, one of the best books I've picked up in a while. It's about the creation of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the architects who planned and built it, and a serial killer who's working his destruction in Chicago at the same time. It's all quite interesting, and it makes me want to go back to Chicago for a visit!

Weekend Update

I had a pretty busy Saturday, which included going to the H&R Block in Cary and using the lady George goes to to do my taxes. When I did this year's federal taxes on my own, I came out owing $1200+! Yikes! When she did them, I only owed about $50 federal and about $25 for state taxes. No fancy deductions or anything were added, I just did the math wrong. That's a load off!

After that appointment, we went to visit George's parents, grandparents, and brother and sister-in-law. His mom wasn't home, but we got to see everyone else at their respective homes. It was good to see everyone. George came with me to supper at the Rice House afterward. We were pretty pooped after all that, so we stayed in Saturday night.

Saturday morning I got up early as usual and went to the cross country trail through the woods and around the Duke golf course. It felt great to be outside in the fresh air for exercise.

Yesterday was a little strange with Daylight Saving Time going into effect several weeks early. We made it to church at ERUUF okay, but the rest of the day was spent taking it easy. I watched part of the ACC basketball finals between UNC and NC State, but fell asleep for a good nap. I did a little cleaning, but otherwise just puttered around and took it easy. I didn't even make it to the gym. It was very refreshing to have some down time!