if you think YOU do something embarrassing, just...read on.

I have a really embarrassing confession to make. Like, I have literally never told anyone this, in my entire life. And god help me I hope I’m not alone in this. And even if I am, well, oh well.

More often than I’d like to admit I have conversations with myself in a mirror. But I’m not talking to myself. I imagine I’m talking to family friends, or (holy sweet baby jesus, why am I telling you this…) Bill’s family when I meet them (which won’t happen, but this is Fantasy Mirror Land, might as well embrace the crazy) and…I’m just talking about my life, or what I’m up to.

Of course it’s never reality. It’s me having hobbies and doing things that I’ve always wanted to do but been too scared or haven’t gotten my ass in gear.

Tonight, I was a girl who took dance classes for exercise (and yoga here and there). I took voice lessons and, with a musically inclined friend, helped Girl Scout troops earn arts and music badges once or twice a month. And of course had a regularly updated blog (HA) about her struggle to health and happiness (all while never giving the website – even Fantasy Mirror Land is like real life – no one in my real life knows the address and only three know I even have this blog)

And tonight, it smacked me in the face….excuse the language, but I really do love cursing, well, why the fuck can’t I be that person?

(also, I just realized Fantasy Mirror Land can be abbreviated FML. That...says...an unbelievable amount.)

What stops everyone? Fear, of course!

I don’t know where it comes from, but I have very real issues with and a fear of looking stupid – it’s the reason I despise karaoke, don’t really like dressing up for Halloween, and the worst of them all, ANY sort of audience participation. Like you know sometimes during musicals, cast members come down the aisles? I all but have a panic attack.

So…I don’t want to start things because I am so scared of being bad at them.  But we all know that’s bullshit; very few people are very good at things when they first start them – of course, my insecurity and irrationality know no bounds!

But hell, I am going to try. One of the things I will try quietly, and the other one, I’m recruiting you!

Singing/Voice lessons: I can count on one hand the number of people that have told me I have a nice voice, and many more than that have heard me sing – so I don’t know what that tells you. I know I don’t have the pipes of your Whitneys or your Christinas (but at least I know the words to the national anthem, hiyoooo!) but a softer, indie-ish kind of tone. I think. But I’m scared of failing and realizing that I really do suck at singing – because it gives me such pleasure to listen to a song and sing or hum along; it’s very calming for me. But I’m afraid of having real proof that I’m singing bad pointy daggers into the ears of my loved ones.

Tonight I found a voice teacher in my area and researched her and she seems legit – so I might pay for a few lessons and see what happens! I am terrified and happy…mostly terrified.

Dance/Yoga classes: I’m afraid of how I’ll look. Dancing and yoga is for skinny people! I’ll be honest – I have moves, I can dance fairly well and I LOVE to do it. But real classes with….people? That, my friends, is for…you know…real dancers. I’m just a chub with some rhythm. And yoga – besides the obvious farting in class – I am deeply afraid of looking stupid.

My gym already has dance and yoga classes, so…what I REALLY want there, (besides having the balls and motivation to actually GO more then the one time two weeks ago when I did Zumba…) is to have people to go with.

Connected to that, I want to get a community of DC bloggers, like myself, that are struggling with weight and exercise and all that (not necessarily struggling, but you know what I mean) to meet in person to just chat, laugh, maybe go for walks or do fun things*** – you know, like gym dance classes!

Anyone live in the DC area and belong to Fitness First?? The location on 19th (between K and L) Street NW has dance classes Tues-Thurs from 6:30-7:30. I want friends! BE FRIENDS WITH ME!

***We can go to musicals, too, but I will start crying if a grown man or woman dressed as an animal comes and writhes around on my lap. I will cry and then I will never talk to you again.

well I just did not see that coming...updates and scattered thoughts! (aren't all my posts like that, though, really? :-)

Sorry, my lovelies, that I didn't have time to post this AM. Decided to sleep instead :-) Did you know I have the sleep tendencies of most infants? It's true. I just. love. sleep. Can't get enough.

So this morning I was:

207.6!

Only .4 of a gain after the week I had? I'll TAKE it! A nice lucky break to start the day, and it only continued....

I walked into work to...utter chaos. Everyone saw me and comes RUSHING over in a frenzy about it being my last day (nobody knew until the email I sent out on Friday, informing them as much) and they essentially petitioned the office manager to keep me on through mid-May!

So I've got another month of work! (and a need to sit down and figure out when and how I can motivate myself to the gym. Need to try the whole AM thing again, it was really great for that one week!)

Though I did get a little bit of exercise in today! I took a nice long walk during my lunch break. It was a fairly brisk walk, maybe medium brisk? DC Geography Time! My office is at 21st and L, and I walked over to 17th and then down to the mall...over to 18th and back up and over to my office. I traced it on MapMyRun and it said it was almost 2.5 miles! It was beautiful and warm and sunny out today, I really enjoyed getting that Vitamin D!

***

Even though we are clearly poor bloggers for not taking a picture, Becca, Megan and I met up for lunch this Saturday! I had so much fun. We went to a thai place in Old Town Alexandria that is right on the water. Beautiful views and tasty food! I got a veggie tofu thing that I dominated. Yum! Becca and I have met once before but it was great to finally meet Megan. She's the gem that coined Kat and I as Bert and Ernie, so she's clearly very important!

***

I might go to Richmond AGAIN this weekend. I went about three weeks ago, and then two weeks before that. Apparently I can't get enough!

***

I am picking up my friend at the airport this Friday. I love picking people up at airports. I actually just love airports, period. I know, it's weird. I think I've mentioned this before. It's like the beginning of Love Actually, when they show all the people reuniting...that's my fave. I have so many vivid memories of reuniting with people at airports, and I love to watch other people experience it too. ...I choose to ignore the people that are leaving/separating, because it's sad and pokes a hole in my theory. That's the secret to living - just ignore the stuff that doesn't agree with you, right?

***

THIS:

Awesome.

ha!

Got this from Kat of Kat Does Diets - you can check your most tweeted words - of COURSE mine is LowFatKat. :-)

Sorry if the quality of this is terrible, I had to take a screencap b/c I couldn't figure out how to get it on the blog through linking or sharing or whatever. I....am......not technologically inclined sometimes.

Random Thoughts (that I wish I had come up with...)

Hi! I'm still here! I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately. But things are good - I've been incommunicado whilst talking to that EHarmony gentleman I mentioned a few posts ago - it's sort of over, at least "romantically". I'll get that story to you soon.

In the meantime, my friend had this on her blog, and it's made the rounds on the intertubez, but it is so hilarious and you should read it if you haven't.

"Random Thoughts of 25-35 year olds:

- Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

- I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

- Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

- That's enough, Nickelback.

- I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

- Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

- Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

- Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.

- I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

- How the in the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

- I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

- The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

- Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty.

- Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

- If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

- You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

- Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

- I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

- When I meet a new person, I'm terrified of mentioning something they haven’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

- Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

- Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

- I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

- Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

- Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

- It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

- I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

- I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

- I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dangit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?"

Aw, I don't have a good post title. For shame, self.

Hello my loves!

Hope you’re doing well this fine Saturday morning (or afternoon, or evening, or whenever you are depending on your location)

I am beyond happy it’s Saturday. Had a stressful week at work, I definitely need a few days off to recharge. Plus I’ve been sick since Monday, but choosing to ignore it as much as possible. But I can’t ignore a sore-throat and maybe a bit of a fever away, unfortunately. Meh. Oh well, it didn’t stop me from anything this week!

So I said I went to the gym Wednesday morning, right? Well guess who had two thumbs and did it again Thursday morning!?!!?

Yep. (Please don't judge the room...I know, it's such a mess. And yes, there's a teddy bear back there. It's from Harrod's! That's a legit reason for keeping it, right??)

I even got up and got there Friday morning, but I forgot that my gym doesn’t open until 8 on Fridays. GRR! Oh also, I think I might have found a gym I might want to switch to – Fitness First. They have locations in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, my town, and a few others, so I feel like I can still go there no matter where I end up living or working, and they’re also open at 5am everyday, AND open on Sundays, which my gym is not. And I think they’re around the same cost as mine.

Now I’m just dragging my heels on actually going in to my current gym to quit it, b/c I feel like I hear so many stories about extra fees and all this crap gyms tack on to scare you out of leaving…ugh. I’ll probably wait on this a few weeks until I can work up the courage :-P

*In other news, I got some bananas yeserday, and LOOK:

Are any of you familiar with the Wii game SuperMonkeyBall? My friends and I are kind of obsessed with it, we always play when we’re all together (usually at the holidays). I saw/bought these yesterday at Trader Joe’s…and I literally called like four of my friends to tell them about it.

…I called my friends on a Friday night to tell them about bananas I had purchased. YEP.

Speaking of food, my eating has been really really good! Lots of good food happening over here: greek yogurt, fruit, vitatops, turkey breast sandwiches with hummus, spinach and alfalfa sprouts, Luna Bars (I would seriously do terrible things to mankind to keep my supply of Lemon Zest Luna Bars up), cottage cheese, almond milk, veggies, and of course Trader Joe's Chicken Tikka Masala and Paneer Tikka Masala. I don't know if you'd consider those last two healthy, but they are just seriously so. fucking. good. That's right, so good I have to curse. That good.

*You should go over to Low Fat Kat and read this most recent post of hers, it’s about men and chocolate! We were talking about it yesterday (in that it was *her* idea and she was telling me about it - I'm not that smart) and it’s a really good post. So go see it. We may or may not have gchatted for like 4 hours yesterday. Why can’t she be a dude and I can date her?! We haven’t met in real life, but when we do, it’ll look something like this:

weekend wrap up

I had such a great weekend! Friday night I watched Monsters vs. Aliens – have you seen it?! I thought it was so hilarious. I love cartoon movies, I really do. Emperor’s New Groove, Up, The Incredibles…some of my faves.

Anyway, Saturday was great. I was sad to miss FitBloggin and I definitely want to go next year – but my day made up for it! I went down to Richmond (VA) to see a bunch of my friends again. I had lunch with one of my best friends – he’s my best guy friend and we’ve been friends since we were 13 years old. He was my senior prom date! He’s in med school and just got matched this week, so we had a celebratory lunch!

After lunch he came with me to my old college roommate’s birthday party, and we had cold drinks and played games in the sunshine. It was so nice. Have you ever played Ladder Golf? Looks like this:

You set them at opposite ends of a yard or whatever and toss the ball/string things and they have to hang on to the different rings to get points. It’s so fun. And if you’re immature like my friends and me, there are an infinite number of ball jokes to be made.

After the cookout I went over to the house of another friend from college – for a St. Patrick’s Day party! I had such a good time, and I had a little NSV too!  My friend told me that I looked really good - she hadn't seen me since September, which was the last time I was down at their house! In fact, my first picture on the side there, the one in which I'm wearing my Orange VT shirt, I took that right before I left to see them.

And now today…just resting. I got a book from the library and I’m gonna start in on that.

Can I tell you what’s a total bummer? Fear. Kat had a great post about it recently, which I totally identify with, but in this particular instance, I’m speaking of a different kind of fear…the “of your life” kind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/15/AR2010031501859.html

If you don’t feel like reading this, basically there’s a guy named The East Coast Rapist and he’s been getting away with, you guessed it, rapes, for the past 13 years. From Northern Virginia all the way to Connecticut. And the other week there was a notice of a similar person in the town where I live. AWESOME.

This guy apparently preys on women after learning their routines and habits, knowing when they'll be alone and unguarded - near their homes, or sometimes at gas stations and such. And I'm in my house by myself. It’s so nice out now and I’m literally too afraid to go out to walk/run by myself. This sucks. It sucks that someone like this exists, and that it makes me live in fear. I’m already cautious about this sort of thing anyway, I always lock doors and pay attention to my surroundings, but I don’t like being fearful about it.

I don't want to be overly dramatic, but I also want to take it seriously. If you were me, what would you do?

Anyway, just in case anyone in the DC area that reads this blog hadn’t heard about this guy…be careful please! I don’t want to sensationalize, I just think everyone should be aware.

(Moving to a different kind of terror, I don’t think I will have lost any weight this week. I ate healthfully, but I think I ate more than I did the week previous, plus my "day off" yesterday, which included lots of delicious beer and three pieces of pizza!)

Little Bit of Meal Good

I can't force myself to construct any sort of decent narrative, so you get a list*

1. I drank 140oz of water today, and 3 cups of green tea. As Joey Russo would say, Whoa!
2. I have some award-getting and giving to catch up on, I'll do this soon! But thanks to you lovely folks for thinking of me! One day I'll improve my time management skills....maybe later.
3. I ordered a new iPod today because now my poor baby doesn't even hold a charge through the whole metro ride. :-( But yay, new toy soon! PS I ordered it online b/c it's $25 cheaper (Best Buy) and you get free shipping, and even with tax it still comes out $10 cheaper than if you bought it in-store or through Apple. Booyah. But I guess we'll see how confident I am in my choice after it shows up, hopefully in one piece, free of any tomfoolery.
4. Wow, only 3 things? I'm boring.
5. Wait, I thought of another one! Keri, WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE. Heh.
6. Okay now I really might be done.
7. Yep.
8. NOPE! I just want to ask: Do any of you watch White Collar? It's on USA so I feel a little ashamed that I'm watching what 90% of retirement homes watch all day long, but....that show is SO awesome! Anyone? Anyone?!?!
9. Okay now I'm done. On to food.

*I wrote the following this morning, when the day was young and I didn't know that my coworkers chose today to be FRANTIC at ALL TIMES...ugh.

So yesterday the uber-cool Janetha ate what she calls “PB&J Yoatgurt” for breakfast. Greek Yogurt + oatmeal. Plus other goodies.

I thought I’d give it a go this morning…by basically copying her. It’s what I do.

½ cup oatmeal (I just used Quaker instant because I’m too lazy to make steel cut, at least in the AM)
¼ cup greek yogurt (fage 0%)
1 tbsp The Bees Knees PB&Co (Scuttleboose...I can't remember where I got it, I'm sorry!)
1 tbsp Polaner’s Sugar Free Raspberry Jelly
1 tbsp chia seeds (this was my own addition!)

Mix it all together and eat. …more like INHALE. It is SO GOOD. I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Breakfast:

*Janetha's Yoats :-)
*can of V8 (in the car on the way to the Metro)

Snack:

*1/2 cup fage 0% with 1 tbsp honey and ½ a serving of PB Puffins (the last of them!!) and 1 tbsp chia seeds

Lunch:

Falafal: 3 falafal balls (heh..balls) with 1 tbsp tzatziki, multi grain arnold’s thin
*13 Newman’s Own pretzel sticks

Snack:

*3/4 a small granny smith apple, sliced with a wedge of brie

Dinner:

*broccoli with tuna and melted cheese (string cheese :-P) I guess it was sort of like a fake/deconstructed casserole. It was pretty good!

Surf foooods with attitudes...

Okay loves, I need to get ready and pack and such for my little trip, so I’ll just leave you with my breakfast eats and a little treat.

Breakfast:

*Strawberry Chobani with 2 tbsp chia seeds (gotta get ‘em all in today!)
*everything bagel, ¼ cup egg subst., ketchup, 2 slices avocado, 1 LCL wedge.
Biiig breakfast. Gotta be ready for my trip!

I think I’m also gonna make a smoothie or something to take down with me. This is all so I don’t overeat when I’m out at lunch, or make a really unhealthy choice. Maybe a little Chocolate GreenSuperFood mix, milk, ice, banana, and spinach perhaps?

And now, this silliness should hold you over until I make my glorious return tomorrow:

Bandwagon, Jumping on the.

I think I’m going to call it an early night for myself here pretty soon – I’m heading down to Richmond, VA tomorrow to have lunch with my old little (fun fact! In college, I was in a co-ed business fraternity. I had three “littles”, but I really am only close with one these days. I was even in her wedding!) and then my old roommate is having a birthday party so I’m going to that. Should be fun!

(I’m also going down the weekend of the 20th – for another roommate’s birthday party, and my little is throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party. Par-TAY)

BUT FIRST!

So last week, one of my Whole Foods purchases was Steaz Zero Calorie Black Cherry Sparkling Green Tea.

They are delicious. So I was doing a bit of cleaning up this evening in preparation for my trip tomorrow, and I came across the bottlecaps of the two of four that I’ve drank so far:

HOW FUN is that?! I can’t wait to drink the other two! But I also want to savor them because…Whole Foods = Expennnsiiiiiiveeeeeeeeee.

So anyhoodle….I’m also going to jump on the “take pictures of your fridge” bandwagon. Everybody’s doing it!!!!! I only point out the things I eat, because it is still my family's fridge, and so there's a lot of stuff in the back that I don't even go near...

Like the photoshop skills on the Save-The-Date? The japanese is apparently our last name in...Japanese. The guy in the photo on my left spent a year there teaching English. Those kids are our family friends - the family that we've done Christmas and Thanksgiving together with for the past 15 years! I love them.

Top level: Steaz, Bread and Butter Pickles, Honey Mustard, and full-fat Ranch I don't touch!

Level 2: Pom seeds, Chobs, Fage, Oikos, LCL wedges and Cottage Cheese

Level 3: Feta, Brie, Goat Cheese, some pesto back there that I try my best to avoid, tzatziki sauce, and margerine - also avoid!

Level Quatro: pineapple, Trader Joe's Red Pepper Hummus, half a granny smith apple, eggs, english muffins, and half an avocado.

Crisper drawer! bean sprouts, artichoke hearts, baby spinach, onion, and lettuce. Unfortunately bare!

Turkey Breast, La Tortilla tortillas (GREAT stats!) and chicken sausage. there's other stuff in there that I don't really touch, I never venture below the tortillas really.

This is embarrassing. The freezer is a hot (cold) mess. Plus I bought like a million falafal things because I didn't want to keep making trips to the Heets all the time. You can see the Mint Choc. Skinny Cow cones I haven' had since Lent started, and my Amazing Grass Chocolate Green Super Food powder, corn, Chiken Tikka Masala meals from Trader Joe's...and...lord knows what else is in there.

Breakfast:

*Oikos 0% with Honey and 1 tbsp chia seeds
*1/2 WW bagel with 1 tbsp The Bees Knees PB&Co

Snack:

*BlueBran VitaTop
*AmazingGrass ChocolateSuperfood drink mix (just made it with water instead of milk…still tasted good, just not as rich)

Lunch:

*Tastybite Madras Lentils soup w/ 1 tbsp chia seeds mixed in
*sandwich: multi-grain arnold’s thin, 3 slices turkey breast

Snack:

*coffee w/1 half&half packet
*1 serving of All-Bran Garlic & Herb crackers
*5 or so pineapple chunks

Dinner:

*sandwich: turkey breast, brie, granny smith apple slices, lettuce on a multi-grain arnold’s thin
*13 newman’s own pretzel sticks
*can of V8

so, I'm totally bored, can you tell? Even I would skip reading this post. Unless you like talking about grocery stores.

You know what? I love grocery shopping. And grocery stores. It combines my love of food and things. (I know, I love things. It’s why I love gift shops and Target. THINGS as far as thee eye can see!) And I also love when people have the same little idiosyncrasies as I do when it comes to grocery stores and shopping. So let’s dive in, shall we?

Oh wait, for more uselessness, look at the outfit I wore out on my grocery errands today. I felt cute. Just don't worry about the Saturday Morning I Don't Give A Shit Hair.

Dress is from Old Navy, sweater is Target, earrings are NY&Co, and the scarf was a present from a friend.

I think my favorite grocery store is Harris Teeter (or Wegman’s but I’ll get to that later). I went to the HT today. I love that I can get specialty/health stuff there, but also just regular groceries. Because, really. So I got some cottage cheese, turkey, scallops (hello, impulse buy!) avocados, craisins, falafel, and for a special treat, some brie and goat cheese crumbles. I. LOVE. CHEESE. And I don’t really eat it that much, or as much as I should considering my love for the stuff.

Background! My very first job, when I was 16, was working for a German specialty deli/grocery store (in Falls Church for those from this area – ever been to German Gourmet?). I did cashier stuff and stocking and helping the customers. I took German in high school and studied abroad there for a month, so my German wasn’t half bad and a lot of our customers were super authentic. I also worked behind the deli. So yeah, I can use a meat slicer with the best of ‘em. But we had some of the BEST cheeses there and I’m spoiled by having champagne tastes on a PBR budget, at least cheese-wise. In every other sense I have pretty cheap tastes and I'm totally okay with that.

Anyway. So I got some goat cheese crumbles, probably to make a salad with some craisins, spinach…and who knows what else I’ll throw in there. The brie I got...just for eating. Brie is probably my favorite cheese. Whenever I hear someone mention brie, my initial reaction is always “Oh my god, I fucking love brie” haha, like it makes me a little angry. That’s so weird.

Trader Joe’s is quickly rising in the ranks due to my recent discovery of their Indian food. I went there today and literally everything I got from was Indian food. Chicken Tikka Masala, Paneer Masala, two kinds of naan, and their vegetable masala patties. Their Indian food is exceptionally good. And it’s decently priced too, at least the stuff I buy.

I went to Whole Foods today for the first time ever. It was okay. I didn’t get much but it still managed to be expensive :-P But I guess that’s how it goes. I mostly got things I’ve been wanting to try for a while, or stuff that looked like a fun special treat. Definitely not a store I plan on going into often. Cannot. Afford.

I didn’t go there today, but I also love Wegman’s. For the same reasons I love HT. In addition they also have a decent kitchen/housewares type section that’s fun to wander through. If it wasn’t for The Wegs I wouldn’t have my Bento Box! The Wegs also has a really good Indian food bar and salad bar apparently, and you can go and eat meals there like a restaurant, but I’ve yet to do that. Whenever I hear someone talk about Wegman’s, it’s usually with the same enthusiasm that I reserve for Brie. So people really like it. Me too.

And of course, each of these places has the certain items that I get – people do that, right? Go to certain stores for certain things, even of other stores might also sell them? It’s a matter of preference of brands I suppose. Or neuroses? I don’t know.

I'll leave this entirely useless post with a question to you - for those of you that enjoy the deliciousness that is Chobani, have you had the raspberry flavor yet?! If so, where on god's green earth did you get it!?!? Raspberry yogurt is my FAVORITE of all time, and I'm so excited Chobani makes it, but I can't find it anywhere. HALP!

You Make Me Meal So Young

…I don’t really have anything to write about other than what I ate and exercised. I’m boring. Ha, am I a better writer when I’m “tortured” and going completely off the rails with my eating? That’s not exactly incentive! I think I'm just tired - it's been a long day.

See: when I got home tonight I got out of the car and walked to go check to the mail (the boxes are all clustered together at the other end of the neighborhood). I still had my keys in my hand and when I got to the mailbox, I started to hit the "Unlock" button on my car's remote, like I was going to open the mailbox that way....YIKES.

Here, you can have some random pictures.

The two Luna bars I bought the other day but am saving until Lent is over...they are borderline sweets with those flavors!

I took this one two years ago at the SF Zoo. It still cracks me up. And yes, I've totally submitted it to Cute Overload.... :-)

Took this one on my phone during a particularly exhausting grad school study session.

Breakfast:

Egg scramble: ½ cup egg subst. with 1 chorizo chicken sausage cut up and a couple dashes of hot sauce.

Lunch:

*Trader Joe’s Chicken Tikka Masala
*4 strawberries and 4 BIG pineapple chunks cut up

Snack:
*1 100 calorie bag of Smart Pop Kettle Corn
*handful of baby carrots

*Another GreenSuperFood packet on the way home to the gym!

At the gym I did a 30 minute elliptical course, and then 5 minutes cool down, also on the elliptical. It was good times.

Dinner:

*1 Vegetable Masala patty (Trader Joe’s wins again!)
*Egg subst. “omlette” – egg subst. and a small handful of reduced fat sharp cheddar with a lil bit of ketchup on top.

Random but DELISH and totally hit the spot. Observe:

I'm too excited to be pun-ny!

I got my SecretValentineBloggieGiftieSchmiftieWhatever today! The incomparable Janetha of meals and moves set this up for everyone who expressed interest and EEE! I LOVE getting things in the mail. No, really:

It turned from excitement to love:

I’m so weird.

Anyway, the awesomely fantastic Jessica is my new best friend! So many fun things in the package:

As you see there is some popcorn and tea (which I’m drinking right now and it’s delish!) and so many other goodies that I can’t wait to try.

The way to my heart is through postal mail. I swear.

Here’s the food for the day!

Breakfast:
*vita top (blue bran...not as good as cran bran!)
*Oikos 0% Greek Yogurt w/Honey (the little individual kind) - with some Kashi Honey Sunshine Cereal mixed in
*cup of black coffee

Snack:

*green apple
*the rest of my Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal...less than a handful.

*cup of green tea!

Lunch:

*baby carrots
*serving of all-bran garlic & herb crackers
*peanut butter sandwich: peanut butter & co The Bees Knees with 1 honey wheat arnold's thin
*can of V8

Dinner:

*everything bagel with: mayo, turkey breast, bread and butter pickles
*2 servings of salt & vinegar pop chips

And as I mentioned, now I’m drinking tea, it’s from Jessica’s package and it’s Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Holiday Tea. It’s right on time, considering 1: Lent: Sweets ‘n’ Jobs is still in effect, so it fills a nice void and 2: it reminds me of a more magical winter, more Christmas-y and less dirt-covered snow piles as tall as me causing accidents and taking up half the Metro parking lot. Not that I’m bitter. Anyway, it reminds me of a happier wintertime so I love it!

(and I'm OBVIOUSLY drinking the tea in the Penguin Sex Mug. Of course I am.)

(I'm so glad you all appreciated my Penguin Sex Mug story)

Hey Food

(post title original is Hey Dude, a fantastic old show of my childhood that was on Nickelodeon. Oh, the days!)

So I mentioned in a tweet this morning that I had a dumb thing and a heartwarming thing to talk about. The heartwarming thing is below in the dinner section, so here's the dumb thing.

I was getting my coffee this morning and used this mug:

So, this mug was my favorite one growing up. No rhyme or reason other than: Penguins! Being cute! So when I went to college I wanted to take it with me; just to give me a little dose of home while I was away. I'm discussing this with my parents, telling them to which mug I am referring, and they go: "Oh, the one with all the penguins having sex?"

LOOK CLOSER.

All KINDS of sex positions. What. The. Hell. I had never noticed. I didn't bother to look closer, because, it's just cute penguins, you know? Just hangin' out. Apparently engaging in an enormous orgy. Luckily the mug still manages to remain one of my favorites as I somehow protected my childhood innocence that was connected to the mug. Probably just blocked out the part about animal sex. Ugh.

Now that you've got animal sex on the brain, let's talk about food. I'm sure there's a weird joke or a segue in there somewhere? No? Well you can't win 'em all.


Breakfast:

*3/4 cup cottage cheese
*half of an everything bagel with 3 slices avocado, egg subst. and 1 tbsp ketchup.
*cup of coffee with some almond milk

iced coffee: espresso with 1 half&half packet thing, 1 equal

Lunch: (the one I made/packed yesterday!)

*big handful of baby carrots
*sandwich: arnold’s thin, handful of baby spinach, 2 slices of avocado, 4 bread and butter pickles, 1 LCL wedge.
*can of V8

Snack: green apple

more coffee: espresso with 1 half&half moo thing

Dinner:

For dinner, I went out, but I did GREAT!

I had dinner at one of my favorite Italian places with some family friends - three of my mom's friends and some of their daughters. Basically my mom's friends think I'm a homeless orphan or something when my parents are gone. (I'm also invited over to a family dinner with another one of my mom's friends on Sunday.) So sweet. When I showed up at the restaurant, one woman goes “We thought you needed a MOM!!!” See, this is the heartwarming thing! They're so cute and I'm so lucky to be surrounded and loved by them.

Anyway, before I went to dinner I scoped out the menu online. I had planned to order their Bistecca salad, it sounded amazing: “Rosemary garlic-marinated flat-iron steak over arugula salad and grilled eggplant, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and candied garlic”

…and that’s exactly what I did! I got a water and had that salad. Actually, “dominated” would be more appropriate. It was so good. I know there were probably a lot of hidden calories with whatever dressing was used (some kind of balsamic-y thing, I think) but…hell! I got a salad and I stuck to it. No bread, no bites off of anyone’s pasta-filled plates.

(This restaurant is AMAZING and I’ve never had a bad meal there and I’m happy that their salads are just as good as their pasta dishes, it’s an incentive to choosing salad.)

And then the table split a chocolate ganache thing, and I politely declined! That was more Lent related than anything else, but I stuck to it. (Other Lent news: sent my resume to the boss of a friend who asked for it, and worked on a separate job application…Sweets ‘n Jobs Day Two was a success!)

Huzzah! So it was a good day.

(EDIT: Just hopped on the Wii Fit for 30 minutes! Also, I hope I get some new blog readers from searching for something weird like "Penguin Sex".)

And see below and enter the giveaway if you want and/or haven't already! Haha, the count stands at an impressive NINE as I write this. I love it. TOUGH COMPETITION.

Drama Llama

When it rains it pours.

So you know how my parents are in Florida, right? Amongst many chores, one thing I have to do every so often is drive my mom's car. Just to keep it...healthy, I guess. It's a 17 year old Honda Civic and in great shape - it only has 120,000 miles on it. I know cars that are 10 years younger and have twice the miles.  (I know some people like that too, HIYOOOOO!)

So I was driving it to run my errands today. For reference, I live in Reston, VA. It's a suburb that's about 30 minutes west of Washington DC and maybe 20 minutes outside of Arlington, VA. I'm telling you these geographic tidbits because they'll come in handy as I tell you this story.

 I went to the post office, then drove about 30 minutes to the 2nd closest Wal-Mart to me (because the closest one sucks and I refuse to go there on principal) and then drove to a SUPERTARGET! (yes, I have to capitalize it and punctuate it at such. It's SUPER!) both of which are in Leesburg, VA.

So I do my shopping at Wal-Mart - I only went to get one thing - those individual drink-mix things, you know the ones you put into a water bottle? Wal-Mart brand's Cherry Limeade flavor is AMAZING. I try to avoid those things mostly because they do have aspartame, but...it tastes like a melted popsicle. And when you have that craving for candy or something sweet, they really do help. So I got those.

Then I went to the SUPERTARGET! that is down the road from the Wal-Mart. I got a few things and then went back to my car.

And then it wouldn't start. I tried and tried and...nothing. Oh also did I mention that it was cold and drizzling out?

A really nice man came along and tried to help; he looked under the hood and had me try a bunch of different tricks to get it to start. It wouldn't.

He left and I reluctantly picked up my phone to call a tow truck; at least we have AAA. Then I notice my phone. The battery is so low it's got that lovely "Danger Red" shade on. Basically I had time to make maybe one and a half calls. Of course.

I have a friend that lives about 1 minute down the road from me so I call her first. I figured she has a cell phone that I could use since I knew mine will inevitably go dead before the end of this insane evening. She rushed to my rescue, thankfully.

While she was on her way I called AAA. I called at 7pm. I told them I was in Leesburg and needed a tow back to Reston. The woman I spoke with told me a truck would be there within an hour. In tow-truck time, I know that means anywhere from 2-4 hours, so I asked them to call me when the driver was 5 minutes away. In the mean time I went back to my friend's house and had dinner, so that part was nice. Even though the whole situation sucked, at least I had a good friend close by.

At 8pm the driver of the tow truck calls me and tells me he's in the Target parking lot by my car. Imagine that, a towing company (much less going through AAA) comes on time!?

My friend and I go back over to the lot and drive up to my car. There is no tow truck. Not by my car, and nowhere in the lot at all. So I call the driver back (on my friend's phone because mine had died about 30 minutes prior) and tell him what we're seeing, and it isn't him.

He says to me: "...you're in Arlington, right?"

Ha, I hope anyone from the DC area that reads this is feeling my pain. For those of you outside the DC Metro area, Arlington is about 50 minutes away from Leesburg. ALMOST AN HOUR AWAY. And, like my friend said, how in the hell do you get the words "Leesburg" and "Arlington" confused?!

Anyway, after I imploded from rage and frustration, I called AAA back and they said they had someone in the area (the correct area) that could be there in 20 minutes.

Luckily everyone held up their end of the bargain this time. But then once the tow truck came my friend got a call from her husband - they have 15 month old twin boys who are just now walking and one of them fell on his face right into the cup he was holding. They thought he had lost a tooth and there was blood and...you get the idea. It was panic-central in Leesburg, VA tonight.

The tow-truck guy got me and my vehicle home safely and relatively cheaply. Surprisingly so, actually. And my friend's son is fine - tooth intact, just a bit of a fat lip.

*SIGH* What a night.

Connect Four

(Pretty Sneaky Sis!)

So, I ate really well today. I scored a temp gig and took a bunch of little snacks along with me. Throughout the morning and afternoon I had an arnold’s thin with almond butter, string cheese, turkey pepperoni, baby carrots, coffee, water, and garlic and herb all-bran crackers. When I got home I had a BIIIIIIG wrap, consisting of “Buffalo Style” chicken sausage, romaine lettuce, light ranch dressing, shredded carrots, and hot sauce wrapped in a tomato basil wrap.

(I know the tomato basil and the zingy-buffalo flavors don’t mix, but it actually tasted good – the wrap wasn’t at all basil-y so it was fine. Just so you don’t think I’m a total weirdo. Even though you think so anyway.)

Oh and I also had some veggie crunchers, maybe a little over a cup? And a Diet Coke.

So all in all, I ate healthfully. I made good choices.

But somehow, it doesn’t feel like it. I feel guilty, and there’s really no reason for it. Has anyone else experienced similar phantom guilt? It’s bonkers.

***

So I did it. I took the plunge. I signed up for 3 months of EHarmony. I’m terrified. My palms were literally sweaty after I did it and I felt my chest tighten. I’m so terrified of rejection – it’s not something I want to face. But I’m trying to do things outside of my comfort zone, in the name of change and evolution and what not. Maybe it will ultimately be good for me, in the long run.

Now the question is: Pursue or be pursued.

ComfortLaura says: Be Pursued! (After she finished screaming “RUN RUN RUN AWAY NOW GO HIDE IN YOUR VIDEO GAMES! LUIGI IS ALL THE MAN YOU’LL EVER NEED!”)

NewYearDynamoLaura says: Be Pursued!

Ha! See what I did there? Did you not read the part about me being terrified of rejection?

So stay tuned for EHarmony shenanigans.

***

My First Giveaway! (They Like Me! They Really Like Me! …no they don’t.)

So Progresso Soup is doing a Souper You Debut, an essay contest – the winner of which gets a really cool makeover trip/experience in NYC. You can read about it here: http://www.progressosoup.com/souperyou

In the next few weeks I’ll be trying some new flavors and telling you good lookin’ folk allll about ‘em. I already LURVE their French Onion flavor and a big fan of their Minestrone so I’m excited to try some new ones. I’ll be throwin’ some Progresso Knowledge your way soon.

Also in the next few weeks I get to giveaway a Progresso Prize Pack! It’s got soup, a mug, and a digital jump rope:

Sweetness. I’m gonna set that up soon – just as soon as I figure out how to do it. It’ll be in the next couple of weeks, I promise.

And because of some FTC guidelines I really don’t understand, I have to tell you that Progresso provided me with the soup, gift pack, information and the giveaway, basically everything. I provided the sass. That’s what I’m bringing to the table.

So in the meantime, you can go to http://www.progressosoup.com/souperyou and submit your essay for a chance to win a sweet trip to NYC. You can also print out some coupons! Why haven't you gone there yet?! .....wait, finish reading my post first (I'm important!) and then go.

My unofficial rule is that if you win that contest as a result of hearing about it from me, you have to bring me as your Plus One. (This Is A Joke. Repeat: I Don’t Mean This*)

***

Thanks ladies! 266 at 266, Becca at (Boston) Marathoner in Training and Kat at Low Fat Kat passed on this award to me! I have to share 7 things about myself and then pass it on to 7 bloggers.

7 things about me:

1. I am scared of mouthwash. I was at the dentist when I was about 5, before I was old enough to get the fluoride treatment thing – and they give you mouthwash instead. I swallowed some and then got violently ill. I’m still gun-shy about mouthwash to this day. I use it, because, I’m a freaking adult, but I hate it. I’m afraid of it.

2. I really want a Craigslist Missed Connection to be written about me. A friend of mine has had THREE about her. I want!

3. I was in band in high school, and we had our own superlatives. I was voted Coolest Sophomore, Coolest Junior, and in my senior year was voted Coolest Senior, Best Eyes and Most Fun to Be Around. It makes me laugh to wonder if such titles mean I’m the biggest geek in context with the rest of the world :-)

4. Until about a year and a half ago, I thought the phrase was “for all intensive purposes”. …it isn’t.

5. When I was 16, I was in love with a DC United player named Bobby Convey. He was exactly my age (same birthday down to the year) and living in the town over from me with the family of a friend of a friend of a friend. One of my best guy friends agreed to go on a date with this girl basically in order to get information on Bobby Convey’s whereabouts one Friday evening – at our high school rival’s soccer game. It was this huge ordeal, and so I went to the game with three of my friends. Sure enough, Bobby Convey showed up. I took one look at him and said “I want to go home”. I was terrified. My friend had to drag him over to us and carry the conversation as I stood there staring. I’ve never been good around guys OR famous people – this was a terrible combo. (I may or may not still carry a torch for him. Bobby, holler at me, forget about that EHarmony stuff I mentioned earlier, I was totally kidding)

6. I loathe tomatoes but I love ketchup and tomato soup.

7. I was the reason two of my dearest friends (the ones with the new condo!) got together. Six years ago we were having a big party, and they had been timidly flirting… So the night ends and we all passed out because…well, we were all shit-canned. So I was snoring, as I do and as one does when schwasted, and my guy friend was in the same room as me. He couldn’t take the snoring, and the next available room was that of his future girlfriend! That was the first night they got together, and the rest is history. They probably would have gotten together anyway, but I like to take credit, because that’s just the kind of Snoring Friend I am. I hope someone tells this story at their wedding, ‘cause it’s classy.

And I will pass it along to:

Jenny at Keep Me Accountable
Allison at Operation 365
Greta at Big Bottom Blogger
Doug at Beer and Cheese to the Beach (okay I know it's kind of a girly award, but honestly you can't get a better blog title. for realsies.)
Foodie Girl at For Me
Shannon/Chai at We Kin Get Thin
Kristina at Life Won't Weight

and I'm BREAKIN' THE RULES and doing another one because I really like her blog:

Kaitlin at Everyday Grace



(*I totally do mean it.)

Hi.

It's a new year and I'm throwing caution to the wind. This is me. Scatterbrained and wordy. It's 6 minutes long, I know. I don't know how to edit things; myself or videos, namely.

And sorry about the lighting, it's all over the place, much like myself. Oh and the audio is kinda crappy. I'm a filmmaker!

(Is it working now, for those of you that couldn't get it before? It gave me an "An error occurred, try again later" message a little bit ago, but now it's playing fine for me. Feel free to try it again! Or, this pretty much recaps it: Good Day. Haircut. Coffee with blog friend. Poor production value. I'm wordy. And weird. Fin.)

***Edited to add: I’m dumb. Becca’s blog is beccarunsboston.wordpress.com, not blogger/blogspot. She’s on my links over there, (Boston) Marathoner in Training. She’s all hardcore and what not!

So the rest of my day went swimmingly. I did a lil Wii Fit Plus. Only burned a little over 100 calories, but I was doing it to pass time, not to actually work out. I pretty much did the Kung Fu Rhythm over and over again.

My dinner was the randomest of random dinners in our solar system. I had a V8, a handful of turkey pepperoni, and maybe a ¾ a cup of pasta. I ate them all separately, mind you. But it was still kind of bizarre. But I got in some veggies (technically speaking, or so the can tells me…and if it’s printed on a product, it HAS to be true, right?!) and some protein so I’m okay with it.

The bonus of the meal was that I ate it right before I went over to my friends’ condo to play video games (honest to goodness, is that all I do?) and usually we eat when over there…but not this time!

PS, Random TV Crush Edition: Kup from Chef Academy. RAAWWWRRRRRR. Lurrrve him.

(see, with the extra words!?! I post a SIX MINUTE video and I've already made two additions to the post. Redonkulous.)

I love them. So. Flipping. Much.

Because. Just because.



Just Because Part 2.




PS Christmas is next week!? Can I get a SAY WHAAAAAA?! I can't believe it.

Also, this:

1. What was the last thing you ate? Fake lasagna that was watery because my intelligent self didn’t pre cook the spinach. Call me Ina Garten, won’t you? (actually, don’t, she drives me nuts. Why is she always seemingly cooking dinners and lunches for strange men?? WHAT IS YOUR DEAL, INA)

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Some kinda green, I guess. Did you know that the “flesh” color crayon was voluntarily changed to “peach” in 1962 after/during the Civil Rights movement? True story. Did you also know that I’ll probably go on a tangent after answering every question and I have an inability to answer things succinctly? Also a true story.

3. Do you prefer Coffee or Tea? Coffee. Growing up I remember all the times I…I keed, I keed.

4. Favorite month of the year? May

5. Favorite food? I don’t have a favorite. I’m very inclusive.

6. Where do you like to shop? Target, NY&Co, Old Navy (though their commercials are a crime against humanity)

7. What was the last movie you watched? Yes Man on TV, Precious in the theater.

8. What was your favorite toy as a child? Rainbow Brite all the way.

9. What is your favorite Season? Fall. The glorious return of football. And stomach pains, because I’m a Redskins fan.

10. What kind of music do you prefer? I usually end up listening to pop or indie/folk-ish … But I go through phases of artists I listen to and it’s run the gamut from Clipse to Rascal Flatts to Paramore to Abba (and this was PRE-Mamma Mia) to Ray LaMontagne. Oh and I love me some Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. AAAAND the unnecessarily lengthy tangent returns.

11. Favorite day of the week? Friday

12. Do you have any pets? You know all about him, a beagle named Parker!

13. What was the last book you read? The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown

14. What is your favorite candy? Watermelon Laffy Taffy (the bar with the fake sugar seeds) or peppermint bark

15. What is your dream vacation spot? Place I’ve been to: Paris. (London is my favorite place but Paris is gorgeous) Place I haven’t been to: Greece.

16. Have you ever met a famous person? I met a handful of super cool british celebs last year when I interned in London. Helen Mirren and Sir Ian McKellen among them.

17. What are your hobbies? Reading, cooking, Super Mario Brothers 3. Really.

18. Who do you respect the most? The ‘rents

19. Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person? night

20. How many miles do you drive to work? I DON’T HAVE A JOB. WAH WAHHHHHH

Holiday Cards

I set off to Target this evening to find holiday cards to send to all my friends. I have Jewish friends, Athiest friends, Agnostic friends, and some of them are bothered by Christmas Cards and some of them aren't. So I always go for "Holiday" cards to be safe.

Target's selection was crap. I usually have a hard time finding just the right kind anyway - I'm a stickler for stationery - but this year was all wrong. One would have a great design but be for Christmas - or the holiday/snow ones would be super ugly. I couldn't find the right mixture of being PC but also cute or clever and even reflect a little bit of my own silliness or cuteness. (That's right - I can be silly and cute! Imagine the sides to me you haven't seen!)

So I decided to make my own.

They appeal to the sarcastic in me.

Cardstock, travel paper cutter, envelopes, snowflake stickers, and my own Sharpie marker :-) I wrote it out on one and scanned it to my comp to avoid writing it out over and over like a doofus. You can tell it's scanned and even a bit pixelated but I think it adds to its charm.

Want one? ;-)

Food Awakening

Okay, I didn’t go to the gym today. But I did do 30 Day Shred. Back to Level 1, though! I could definitely tell a difference in my ability to do things, but it was still hard. (TWSS!)

Tomorrow will be another gym day. Going straight from work – work being temp work because I STILL don’t have a freaking job...

(speaking of which, today marks my 11th month of unemployment. THIS ONE GOES TO ELEVEN. Ha – normally a hilarious quote except for in this context. And things aren’t looking good so I’ll probably make it to a full year. This is depressing, and it’s a damn good thing I have my weight loss efforts to keep me going right now and distract me)

debbiedownertangentsayswhat?

What? So. Right. The gym. I’ll go there tomorrow.

I’m still working on water. After I finish this refill, I’ll be at 76oz.

Breakfast:

*cup/glass of milk
*zucchini/yellow squash frittata (egg subst. with 1 LCL wedge and some ketchup)

Snack:

*gala apple

Lunch:

*cup veggie crunchers
*sandwich: grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper, and spinach on an arnold’s thin with tzatziki sauce

Dinner:

*bite of salmon soufflé that my mom made
*mini pizza (arnold’s thin, split between the two: 2 or 3 tbsp marinara, 11 pieces of turkey pepperoni, stringed-string cheese on top)

Oh I also opened up the pomegranate! I tried a couple of seeds, they're tasty! Very sweet. Gonna have to do a lil research to find some fun ways to eat them - as in recipes, not like "eat them while on a rollercoaster". Or maybe that's a bad example because eating anything on a rollercoaster seems like a bad idea.

Hey wanna hear something crazy and off-topic about myself? So I love rollercoasters - I was on one once that was so scary and I screamed so loud I burst a blood vessel in my eye. How ridiculous is that!?!? It's a testament to the ride, for sure, but I just couldn't believe it could happen. How deliciously nerdy.