Can you Believe it?

This will be my last post of 2008. And boy am I ready for 2009. In some ways I think 2008 was my worst year yet! So I am ready to start new, be someone else, and refocus on my goals of being the truly stellar girl I am! However, I am starting off on a horrible foot. I have gained 5 pounds this month. I am so disorganized. I hate the gym. I want to eat crappy food all the time. I am in love with Matzalan's $2 margaritas. I am turning 29. Whoa... I need a minute.

After staying up way to late, enjoying (read: drinking) being 25 with some of my co-worker's friends, I rolled out of bed around 10:30 this morning. I had tons of things I wanted to get done today, and was a little upset that I had slept so late. However, I haven't been able to sleep-in in a long time, so I really think I deserved this! I had to give Erin a ride to her car (at the shop) so that got me out of the house. It was perfect. I easily could have stayed in my warm bed and watched tv for at least another hour. But this way, I picked her up, got to the gym, the grocery store, and made it home all by 1:30. Now I have the whole afternoon to clean up this messy house, and make yummy snacks for Jen's New-Years-Rockin'-Eve Party!

I really wanted to get a good cardio-equipment workout in today. I have been so bored lately by the treadmills and other cardio machines that I haven't been able to stay at the gym the entire hour. I also have a really hard time working up a sweat unless I am running (or taking kickboxing) so I often feel that walking on the treadmill or using the elliptical machines isn't hard enough. Or I just can't push myself to the level I need to be working at. So even though I was feeling dehydrated from an evening of drinking, I made myself walk as fast as possible, on the steepest incline I could handle. Then I switched over to the elliptical where I went as fast as I could (running) and burned a bunch more calories. Now, if I could just stop eating the Peanut Butter cups, things would start looking up!

Thanks for being there with me through 2008. I wouldn't have made it without you guys!

Control

After re-reading my rambling post from yesterday and thinking about the holidays and the state of my house and even the state of my job-life. Then on top of all that, I've noted how I can't seem to stop eating cookies and peanut butter cups and feel like working out less and less. I am realizing more and more that I just don't have any control of my life. It all comes down to self-control. Do I have the ability to say: No, I do not need another cookie; No I cannot join you for dinner because I haven't done laundry in two weeks; Mom I will be late for Christmas because I need to workout; Dad I will only be able to visit for a day and a half because I have a life to live. Well the answer is, I don't. But I need to acquire this control. I need to learn to make time for me. How does one learn to gain self control? Since I have absolutely no idea, I just have to hope that once the holidays are over, it will all work itself out. Here are my plans for when I get back into town, have a free day, and attempt to gain any control of my life:

1. Rid the house of left over Christmas candies/cookies/treats.
2. Fold all the laundry/clothes laying around the house.
3. Make time to workout every day.
4. Go to the grocery store and get some healthy foods for the first time in months.
5. Put away all the Christmas gifts/receipts.
6. Return all the things that didn't quite work out.
7. Turn up the heat, so my house isn't so cold, and makes me want to just lay under a blanket.

Less Time Now

It's hard to believe that I have less time now that Christmas is over. The weeks leading up to Christmas were busy and filled with parties and programs and shopping, but now I am just crazy-busy and can't see the end. I have had to work the last 6 out of 7 days. Of course having Christmas off did me absolutely no good because I was with my family from the minute I woke up and got ready until midnight. I had to work the day after Christmas, and my aunt and uncle wanted to meet me for breakfast before I went to the library. So after going to bed at 1:00, I was up again at 7:00. I spent the whole day working, then we met Amy and her family for dinner and game playing. Again I was up until midnight... and again today I am back at the library. I have to celebrate Christmas with Jennifer sometime (maybe this evening). But my goal tonight is to get to the gym after work; get a really good workout in; get home and eat some dinner and do laundry and put my Christmas gifts away. Then tomorrow I will find myself at work again until 8:00pm. I am hoping to see Amy one more time before she heads back to Atlanta. So I am sure I will be busy tomorrow evening. Monday morning I have to go to Columbus to visit my dad for Christmas. I will spend two days there, before heading back Tuesday night to meet some girls from work for drinks. FINALLY, I have Wednesday off from work with nothing to do. Well, nothing if you consider that it is New Year's Eve and I have a party to get ready for. I want to make some yummy appetizers. I will want to get to the gym. And then I am driving up to Omaha to ring in 2009. I haven't even celebrated Christmas with Brandy and Elijah yet. When will I have time for me?

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday today. Most of you understand that I mostly hate Christmas and all things it has come to represent: consumerism, obligations, resentment, expectations. Surprisingly, for someone who doesn't go to church, religion is the only aspect of Christmas that I really enjoy. It is what the holiday is all about after all. It's not about family and gifts and stress. It's just about Jesus and his birthday -- and we all know how much I love birthdays! So I try to stay as stress-free around the holidays as possible. I try to have my presents bought early (so I don't have to spend time with those crowds in the stores), I try to advocate for my family to give as few/little gifts as possible (I haven't got them talked into no gifts yet). And I try to separate my family celebrations as much as possible. I think that I did a great job of not letting stress get to me! So Christmas was a success I guess!

I got in a pretty good workout on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately there were no classes at Goodyear; they closed at 3:00. So after I got off work at 4:00 I headed over to Gold's (there are some good reasons to have two gyms) and worked out for 50 minutes. I find gym cardio to be so insanely boring that I just couldn't make myself stay for ten more minutes. Then I celebrated with my mom by eating some creamy soup. There was no working out on Christmas, because they gym had some absurd hours (10-4) in which I was busy during all of them. On top of no calories burned, I ate a huge amount of them. I skipped the pie, but that's easy for me. I made up for it with stuffed mushrooms, manacotti, fudge, Oreo balls, sugar cookies, etc... But that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown!

Vote Early, Vote Often

I have been trying to come up with a list of Things to do before I'm Thirty! I have been searching the Internet and asking my friends and co-workers. Everyone has different opinions on what kinds of things should be on this list. A lot of bloggers list things like: Sky-Dive or Hike Mount Everest; real adventurous stuff. Well we all know that I am not adventurous, nor do I have any hopes of being adventurous. So bungee jumping and hang-gliding are not on my list. Other people online have really arbitrary things like: meet my soul mate and get healthy. Well, sure those are great goals, but not really concrete things you can put you mind to and then measure the outcome. I need a concrete list. I am pretty sure it will include something about a musical instrument (take lessons); something about a foreign language (re-learn french?); something about cooking (take a class? try a different recipe each week?); and for sure something about my fitness goals. I am thinking that since lose weight is an on-going goal of mine, I want to be more centered on fitness. Since I have already run a 5k, and I have little or no dreams of running a half-marathon, I am thinking that my next goal should be a 10k. Am I capable of running a 10k? Vote early and vote often!

Temptation

There is something I know about myself: I give in to temptation easily. I have no will power. I don't claim to have any, and I don't attempt to have any. For this reason, I do not purchase bad foods to have in my house. I don't buy chips, I don't leave chocolate lying around. But I spent all last week at my mom's house. My mom has no will power either, but she has no qualms about having crap-food in every cupboard. Besides boxes and tins of Christmas cookies and candies, I also ate: pizza rolls, Cheetos, tortilla chips, cheese, and left over prime rib. I had more holiday goodies at Jen's house on Friday, and more again at my mom's house on Sunday. Saturday night I enjoyed Candy Cane Pie (a VI must ever December) and a fattening Poppy Seed Muffin on Saturday morning. So it shouldn't have come as a shock when my scale was three pounds heavier today. I hate it so much. I a not trying to lose weight this time of year. But the least I could do is maintain what I have. And when ultimately I want the scale to go down, going up is the WRONG DIRECTION!

You'd think that this fact would have inspired me to turn around and eat as health-full-ly as possible this week. And it did. I started out on a great foot: picked a healthy granola bar for breakfast, packed a nutritious lunch, brought my gym clothes for my two hours of gym time this evening. But as soon as I walked in the door at work, these cinnamon rolls were staring at me. After thirty minutes of still wanting one, I gave in. I microwaved it so it would be ooey-gooey and warm. Unfortunately I killed it. The frosting melted everywhere and it was a crusty as a crouton. Even though I wanted to get another, I threw it away and went on with my morning. Then I ate a whole bunch of chocolate that someone brought in. What is it with people and the holidays and food and sharing with others. We don't all want to be as fat as you Santa!

Omaha Classes

I had a lot of fun in Omaha this weekend. We ate a great (free) meal at the Omaha Lazlo's. We sampled several holiday cookies that Jen had made (hello Oreo Ball)! We did a little shopping and mainly, we took two classes at her gym. This marks three Pump classes for me this week, and three kickboxing classes. It was great to actually take Combat again. The Omaha class just so happened to be the same set of songs that Katie used on Monday, so it was easy for me to realized that even though the class was only 15 minutes longer than the one we take in Lincoln, it's almost exactly the same. Here are the only differences: we don't spend the last song doing Tai Chi. If we're lucky we spend a little time doing sit-ups or push-ups, but sometimes we just do cardio through the end. We also skip the Mui Thai song, which is all blocking and breathing. There are also several places in songs when we do deep breathing in Combat; in kickboxing we just do more fast running or jump-ropping or mountain climbing. The final difference is that there is a break between each song in Combat. Since we only have 45 minutes we just do song after song after song and the only break we get is the one you take yourself, or if the instructor needs to change cds. So I don't feel bad for counting our Lincoln kickboxing class as a whole hour. If I wanted I could do deep breathing in the hallway before hand!

I am starting to feel sore today though. Almost like someone kicked me in the ribs. Since Combat has no physical contact, I can only guess that Jennifer must have kicked me in my sleep (we were sharing a double bed in Jen's guest room). I'm a little worried that as the day goes on I am going to feel even more sore. And I don't even want to think about tomorrow. I am going to make myself get to the gym today for some nice hill walking. Apparently Jen might want us to wear short dresses to her wedding, and that is going to mean a complete overhall of my calves as well as my upper-body. Time to start worrying more about that I guess!

How Far Would You Go?

How far would you go to locate a Gold's Gym and take their free classes? I've been known to go all the way to California. So I definitely would travel 50 miles to Omaha. That is precisely what I am doing this weekend. Tonight I am heading up to Omaha to see my friend Jen. We'll have a nice little Christmas celebration: dinner out, maybe wine, lots of laughing. Then, I plan on spending the night, getting up bright and early, and going to two classes at her Gold's Gym (Combat and Pump). I am super-excited. I haven't take three kickboxing classes in a week -- ever. I haven't taken three weight lifting classes in months. And I am excited to take them with Jen; she never gets to have gym-friends. Plus, since she's my workout motivation, it would be good to see her in action. Maybe we'll even get to go out for bagels afterward. It's like a gym field trip, or a Christmas Miracle... and I can't wait!

More Trumps Sore

I began getting sore on Tuesday night. It's because I raised my squat weight. It was the kind of sore where you don't want to go up and down stairs. Luckily, my mom lives on one level (I'm dog-sitting all this week). That made it a lot easier than going up and down than if I were at my own house. Wednesday it just got worse and worse. The kind where I don't like to sit down at work, and resent every customer that needs me to show them where something is located. I was thinking that I would skip the gym on Wednesday evening. How was I supposed to do more kicking and squatting with that kind of pain? That, and the fact that in order to go Wednesday evening, I would have to spend my lunch break racing home to my mom's house, letting out the dog, and then racing back to work, all on icy streets. But I remembered that I would feel a lot less sore if I made myself get to the gym. So I did. And I do feel better. Today my back is a lot sore-er than my legs (that's just because Marika does such an excellent job of working every upper-body muscle possible). Four hours down! Marika even said that she would be willing to teach classes next Wednesday evening (Christmas Eve) if people promised to come. I said I would! So did five other people. We'll just have to see if they let her. When I told my mom I would be at the gym on Christmas Eve until 7:30, she of course was appalled. But she'll be in Church until 7:30 anyway, so I might as well be with my new family. I see those girls twice a week; that's more than I ever see my real family and most of my friends!

Three Weeks Away

One of the drawbacks (perks?) of working for the public library is the fact that you always live three weeks ahead of time. At all times I know exactly what three weeks from today is. I spend my entire day letting people know that their items are due back in three weeks. And so often we feel like we live three weeks ahead. Long story short: my birthday is three weeks away. All day long I let people know that their books were due back on January 6th. It was quite hard for me not to finish up that sentence with your books are due the 6th of January... that's my birthday. But then I remember that I don't want my customers to know so much about me. Although if someone brought me cookies, I wouldn't complain!

To get to the point: I am three weeks away from turning 29. The big 2-9. The last year of my twenties. What do I want to get done in the next three weeks? Where do I want to be when I start the last year of my youth? What are my goals? And thinking even bigger: I want to make 29 a great year. So I want to come up with a list of goals to accomplish in my 29th year of life. What things do I want to have done by the time I am 30. Thirty years old. I think I need a minute...

Help me make a list!

Where Have I Been?

I was able to do both the kickboxing and the bodypower class tonight and I feel great about it. Kickboxing wasn't nearly as grueling as last time, I was better nourished, the room wasn't spinning and I was able to power-through. There's something about having water breaks that let you catch your breath and keep going, whereas, 40 minutes with no break is down-right impossible. I even increased my squat weight slightly. I had been going down on my squats recently, because I am usually SO exhausted from kickboxing that I can't make myself load up the weight. But tonight I pushed myself... I haven't lifted weights in two weeks. I wonder if I will feel that tomorrow.

Then I had a whole bunch of errands to run. I needed to finish up my Christmas shopping. Amid all the running around, I allowed myself to eat McDonald's for dinner. What is it they say about eating high calorie foods right after you burn a whole bunch? Something about your metabolism being at its highest and therefore kicking those calorie's ass's? Oh well, it was still a bunch of calories in; but when was the last time I savored a yummy french fry?

This week is shaping up to be a great workout week. Two classes this evening, two classes on Wednesday evening. Then I plan to be in Omaha Saturday morning, so hopefully we can fit in two more classes then. When was the last time I took three weight lifting classes in one week? Early August? Late July? It seems so very long ago!

A Workout Blog?

If this is a workout blog, why don't I work out anymore? I have only managed to log one hour of gym time this week. I was planning on going to Spinning class in the morning, but I have since decided that my body needs to sleep in. I work all afternoon tomorrow, so working out won't be possible then either. I am having a Party for my Teen Advisory Board. This will include eating pizza and snacks. In the evening I have my work Christmas party. So no working out all day Saturday. I must make myself go to the gym on Sunday morning. I am spending the afternoon making cookies with my mom. All the cookie snacking and the holiday parties are going to make this a high-calorie weekend. The least I could do is burn off one calorie with exercise!

Two Teeth = Four Pounds

Three days of little eating really does the trick. I weighed in four pounds lighter today than I did Monday morning before my dentist appointment. I wish that I knew that this weight loss was here to stay. Unfortunately it's probably all water-loss and will creep back up once I have a whole day of eating. The fact that I couldn't get through a whole kickboxing class and that I am feeling light headed and dizzy all around are obviously signs that I need to eat more (and more nutritious) things. Jennifer did feed me some soft potatoes and roast meat last night, so I am on my way back to healthy.

I have a long day of work today (eleven hours) and then I need to spend time this evening getting ready for a job interview I have tomorrow. It's for a great job that I am hardly qualified for, let alone have any chance of getting. But I really should take the interview more seriously. I also have to get up early tomorrow morning for a staff breakfast, which I will need to make/buy something for tonight. On top of all of that, I got very little sleep last night (five hours) which I need to make up for tonight. So I'll get off work at 8:00, stop by the grocery store and be home by 8:45, review some interview questions for an hour, and try to be in bed by 10:00. Sounds like a plan!

Mistake

I suppose it was a mistake to go back to the gym and attempt to take two hours worth of classes having only eaten half of a burrito all day long. By the end of the kickboxing warm up I was almost dying; my heart was beating so fast I thought that it was going to jump out of my chest. About 30 minutes into the class I was so tired I had to stop in the middle of a song just to go get a drink. And around 35 minutes the room started spinning. So again I rested and got a drink and then did the next ten minutes at very low-impact, only punching, not jumping around. After class it was a little too easy to convince Jennifer that we should ditch BodyPower and call it a night. She hadn't been to class since the middle of November, and felt that she needed to ease herself into it as well. I really wish that I could have stayed to take the second class. But it's very difficult to do squats while your placing you head in between your knees.

Jillian Always Wins

Tonight was the semi-final of The Biggest Loser. Every week I watch, and every week I am motivated by something that one of the trainers say. Although I realize that the show is unrealistic (real people don't have seven hours a day to work out and therefore real people don't lose 17 pounds in a week and 80 pounds in 12 weeks) it is still uplifting and motivating. There has been some discussion in recent weeks on the "yelling" trainer versus the "loving" trainer. I completely agree with Jen who says: "I don't like being yelled at. Gym teachers did enough of that in high school, I'm over the yelling." In general I believe in positive motivation. I believe in a reward system, not a punishment system when raising children. I believe in inspiring my employees through my own actions, not by ridiculing them. And I believe in earning respect not demanding it. But believe this: Jillian always wins. The only season that Bob's team won, was the season that Jillian wasn't on the show. So even though we love to hate her. Even though she makes me feel so bad for those clients of hers. You have to recognize that what she does seems to work.

As far as my working out goes: nowhere. Today I was too weak to do any exercise. I haven't been able to eat any nutrients for two days, so I didn't have enough strength to make it down the stairs let alone to the gym. Tonight I think that I was able to eat a little better. Hopefully I will be back to normal tomorrow because I plan to make it back to my kickboxing/bodypower combo!

Fat Teeth

I now have two less teeth in my mouth. It was awful, just like I thought it would be, but I won't go into that here. I am sure the fact that I have a serious dental-phobia made the situation much worse than it would be for any other person that just doesn't like the dentist. For a brief moment today I started hoping that those two teeth might be really heavy. Like what if they each weighed a whole pound. That would make me two pounds lighter. Then it might have been worth it. Since, that is probably nowhere close to what teeth actually weigh, I will just have to hope the liquid diet does something positive for my health. So since both my driver (Jennifer) and my doctor said I can't work out today, I guess I won't. But truly, I feel perfect. I mean, sure I have gauze in my mouth, I can't eat, and there is a dull pain in my jaw area. But that doesn't mean I can't punch and kick. And I can drink perfectly well. I know, I know, there are several reasons that I am just supposed to take it easy, but I hate to waste a day off doing absolutely nothing. No worries, I already did dishes and laundry (don't tell anyone!)

Back to it

Thanks to Jennifer I got up early this morning and made it back to Gold's for some cardio. I hadn't been there since Thanksgiving morning. Isn't that crazy? What is wrong with me? This season/weather/darkness/holiday seems to be depressing me. I have little motivation to get out of bed. And I absolutely understand that working out will get me out of a funk, but it's hard to get to the gym when all you want to do is sleep. And some people think the point of weekends is sitting around and watching tv. But when I find myself sitting around doing nothing, I just get more depressed. Its a never ending battle. So even though I forced myself to get out of bed early this morning, and again later in the afternoon to get some Christmas shopping done, I still spent eight hours of the day laying in my bed.

One month from today is my 29th birthday. I feel good for twenty-nine; I am probably in the best shape of my life. I guess that's a plus. So I tried not to be upset when the 36-year-old manager of McDonald's (yes I let myself eat dinner at McDonald's) called me young lady. I mean, maybe I still look twenty-four. That can't be a bad thing.

I am not going to Columbus this weekend. So I should be able to get another hour of workout time in tomorrow. I am going out to dinner tomorrow evening as a last supper event. I have no idea when I will be able to eat real food again after my wisdom teeth extraction. I am trying to think of a really good/chewy/crunchy dinner to eat. Maybe chips and salsa? I am going to enjoy the juice stop drinks I will be able to drink on Monday. And the Jamocha shakes from Arbys. And I am most looking forward to the three days I have off from work. Oh yeah, and the laughing gas they'll be giving me. That sounds pretty great. I wish I could get some at home!

Not Since Monday

I haven't worked out since Monday. It's a vicious trap: I skip one day and then it is just so much easier to skip the next and the next and the next. And it's just so cold out I can't imagine leaving my warm bed/blanket/house/car. I am going to try to work hard this weekend but even that is up in the air. I may or may not be going to visit my grandma who just got out of the hospital. Next Monday morning (bright and early) I get my wisdom teeth pulled. I don't understand why I won't be able to workout. That doesn't require eating or drinking (much) and I will be taking heavy medication. But I have been warned about taking it easy and allowing myself time to heal. Please, I am a power-house, I don't spend time healing!

The more I don't work out the easier it is for me to eat like crap. This week I have allowed myself fries, a brownie, Chinese food, cookies and a hostess snack cake. I mean, what do I think is going to happen? The fat in the food will disappear with the warm temperatures? I think that I have gained 4 pounds since last week. And seeing as I won't be doing a ton of exercising in the next few days, I probably need to get a lid on my eating. I guess it's good news that I will have huge holes in my mouth next week and won't be able to chew anything.

Bad Worker-Outer-er

I have very little energy lately. All I want to do is sleep and eat. My body must be preparing for winter. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday we are very low staffed at work. I had been schedule to work until 6:00 today. My plan was to convince someone to go to dinner early, probably end up working several hours alone, and then take off an hour early so I could make it to the gym at 5:30. Then, don't you know it, someone called in sick! So now I'll have to work alone and stay until 6:00. To make matters even worse, I was so worried about leaving early with all the ice on the road, that I left my gym bag by the door. Since BodyPower starts at 6:20 I don't have time to run home and change and make it to the class. I could probably do it in thirty minutes, but not twenty. So I'm going to miss my classes tonight. Sure, I could just go to the gym instead. But that doesn't sound fun. So if I skip the gym today, mixed with the time I skipped last night, I have to make myself go tomorrow. But for now I need a nap... too bad I still have two hours of work.

New Gym Friends

As I mentioned yesterday, my friends Sara and Brandy joined me for Kickboxing last night. Brandy of course knew exactly what she was doing because she had taken BodyCombat at Golds. Sara on the other hand, had no idea what she was getting herself into. She even stayed for BodyPower. Imagine taking two classes the first time you've been in a gym in 10 years. (To her credit, she has been running around her neighborhood a little since this past summer). I told her what I tell all BodyPower newbies: Start with all smalls. The instructor might tell you to put more weight on, but there's nothing wrong with starting light. You'll thank me tomorrow. She seemed to enjoy it, and plans on coming back at least every Monday. Brandy also plans on coming at least once a week. Now I will have to work on getting more Wednesday converts, because Marika's class is 10 times better than Katie's. And as we have discovered: the teacher makes the class. (Unless you're deprived of classes, in which case, the class makes the class!)

After starting my week off with two good hours of working out, I am taking this evening off. Some of my work people are going out to Mazatlan for one of our employee's last days of work. I could try to get to the gym before we meet for Margaritas at 8:00. But I have a lot of errands to run. And sometimes I get tired of going places sweaty. Sure these people already know how cute and good smelling I am in real life. But, there's no reason to confuse them! Hello yummy drinks, goodbye gym time!

I Know, I Know

It has been a long time since my last post. Thanks for pointing that out! At least I know someone's reading what I have to say. So a little recap of my workouts last week:
Monday -- Kickboxing, BodyPower
Tuesday -- Hour of treadmill: attempted to run, stopped, walked hills
Wednesday -- Kickboxing, BodyPower
Thursday -- Early trip to the gym where I walked, and amt'ed for an hour.
Rest of the Weekend -- NOTHING

So here's a little recap of my eating last week:
Monday -- Perfect
Tuesday -- Perfect
Wednesday -- was so proud of myself for doing 2 hours of gym time when nobody else did, that I took myself out for Margaritas and the cheesiest nachos that I have ever had.
Thursday -- told myself I could eat anything I wanted (besides pie) because I had worked out. Didn't even miss the pie. Later in the evening I wanted chocolate, my mother didn't have any, so we made chocolate chip cookies. I think this was the first time I have made cookies (from scratch, not just cut and bake) in like 6 years. And the last time I was at Amy's house and she wouldn't let me eat the raw cookie dough (the best part). Something about salmonella or something. It was heaven. I like cookie dough better than anything else in the ENTIRE world!!!
Friday -- early morning shopping, but fine eating. Made turkey chili for the game, nobody noticed that the beef was missing. Enjoyed leftover pumpkin pie, without the crust!
Saturday -- more Christmas shopping, still craving chocolate, ate very-gooey-brownie instead of dinner (at Panera), then let myself have (unbuttered) popcorn at movie. A good trade off.
Sunday -- didn't eat much, but what I did eat was left-over junk food. Gotta get back on track. When was the last time I ate a vegetable? Besides potatoes? and green-bean casserole?

Tonight I am supposed to have two special friends at Kickboxing. Jennifer still can't go (her back/neck has been hurting her). But Brandy called to say that she would be joining me. And possibly my friend Sara. I love converting new people! I am mostly excited that I don't have to go alone again!