Firstly, I would just like to comment on what a strange-looking word "icy" is. It looks like it's missing a letter or was cut off prematurely.
Weird.
This morning, I woke up at my usual time of 6:30.
Cincinnati received quite a bit of freezing rain overnight, and when I went outside? My Corolla was a giant ice cube!
I feebly tried to scrape away the ice, but it was not budging. I turned the defrost on high and sat in my cold car eating my Lunar bar while I waited for the ice to thaw a bit.
For the record, that stupid Lunar bar only eclipsed my hunger until 9:45AM. Lame.
When I reemerged into the cold, February air, the ice had really melted down quite well! I'll be honest- it was almost fun scraping those big sheets of ice off my Corolla!
Luckily, the streets had been salted, and my commute was smooth into work.
After parking my car in a semi-icy spot, I cautiously made my way towards the entrance.
Of course, as I tried not to slip and die on sporadic bits of ice, two women were being dropped off by their boyfriends/husbands/lovers in rugged SUVs.
Must be nice, I thought bitterly, hugging my red coat tighter around me.
As I went to walk across the CROSSWALK, one of the boyfriends/husbands/lovers didn't see me and almost ran me over with his rugged SUV.
Fabulous.
Single and invisible.
I am happy to report that the day only went up from there with delicious cookies in an afternoon meeting, the perfect cat nap after work, and a fun evening at a local fish fry with some coworkers.
Tonight, I am snuggled up in bed with discounted Valentine's Day candy and my space heater running at full blast since our heat isn't being fixed until Tuesday at the earliest.
Well, bloggers. My Wednesday has been anything but normal.
When I woke up at Ben's apartment this morning, my stomach felt incredibly achey and unsettled.
I attributed it to a restless night of slumber (Ben keeps his apartment SO HOT and his cat can get a bit crazy and rambunctious in the middle of the night) and decided to go back to sleep for a bit (in my own cold but comfortable bed) before getting ready for work.
Around 7:30, I got up and showered. My stomach felt worse than it had earlier, and I knew I was going to faint if I stayed in the steamy shower any longer. The pain reminded me a lot of this episode from November.
I threw up (TMI? Sorry) before retreating to my bed.
It honestly took all of energy to email my boss and tell her I wouldn't be in the office.
Right as I was about to drift back into a self-pitying sleep, I remembered- the men were coming to fix the furnace today!
I shot up in bed and sent out a hasty text to my landlord, just wanting to give him a heads-up that I wasn't feeling well and would be at the apartment while the repairmen were here. I didn't want to scare anyone with my sallow face and unbraided hair.
He kindly replied that he would stop over with space heaters so I didn't have to be in a freezing apartment all day.
Then, my morning got increasingly weirder. As I sat in my bed wearing my lounge pants and oversized grade school tshirt with my Macbook propped on my knees and an incredible space heater going at full-blast on the floor beside me, two very nice and empathetic men fumbled around with the heating system outside my room.
I love you, Space Heater.
"What a terrible time to be sick!" the one sighed.
The other nodded in agreement, "And it's so cold in here! You poor girls!"
Yes, repairmen. YES.
This was just so beyond strange, I could hardly stand it.
Lucky for me, my mum called shortly later and told me to pack an overnight bag.
"You've been living in a 50 degree apartment for four days. And now you're sick! You're spending the night at home," she told me.
I was too weak and feeble to argue at that point.
Besides- a heated home and a cuddly Goldendoodle sounded quite lovely.
I spent the afternoon napping and woke up feeling much better. My mom made a comforting supper of chicken and vegetables, and now I am lounging on the sofa as the two of us watch HGTV.
Weird Wednesday indeed but not a completely awful day!
When I arrived home from my salon shift Saturday evening, I noticed a weird noise coming from our family room vent.
"Junky apartment," I grumbled, turning off the heat. I figured it probably just needed a little rest and would be good to go in a little bit. Our apartment was built in 1890 so I usually am okay with cutting it some slack.
I mean, when I am 113 years old, I hope people do the same for me.
But anyways.
I turned the furnace back on before bed and went to sleep.
Sunday morning, I awoke to a strange smell. I also noticed that the thermostat was only at 63 degrees when I had set the temperature to 70 many hours earlier.
I texted Rachel, my eternal lifesaver in all things practical (and otherwise), that I thought our furnace might be calling it quits.
She said she would look at it when she got home, and sure enough, she called while I was babysitting that evening to confirm that yes, the furnace was indeed broken.
Bloggers, that was Sunday night.
It is now Tuesday night, and we still have no heat.
The first night I had to spend in this frozen tundra?
Not so awful.
I felt adventurous! I kept imagining some of my favorite Little House on the Prairie scenes. Would Pa be bringing more wood soon? Oh, I hoped Mr. Edwards would make it home through the snow storm in time for Christmas!
I realize none of that makes sense. So I'll move on.
We were blessed with an extremely mild February day yesterday so last night wasn't unbearable either.
Tonight though?
Tonight it is cold. Uncomfortably so.
I will be spending my evening and night over at Ben's warm and cozy apartment, watching this week's episode of Girls and making our own Jamba Juice Razzmatazz smoothies.
As Rachel and my June 1st move-out date draws nearer, I've started to do some serious thinking about where I want to live next.
I am totally conflicted between signing another lease or moving back home.
I feel like I am getting to a point in my life where I'd enjoy living alone, but living solo is expensive.
Could I comfortably afford to live alone? Yes.
Would I be saving much money towards a future down payment for a condo or house? No. Not at all.
Right now, I am starting to lean towards moving home with my parents. Here is a little list I've put together of the advantages and disadvantages of admitting defeat and returning to my purple childhood bedroom.
Future roommates?
Moving Home Pros
Free rent! I could buy at least one luxury item each month (Oh, how my shoe and handbag collections would grow!) and still be saving hundreds of dollars to put towards buying something in the long run. I could also afford to travel more often!
Clean and cozy living environment
Ellie
Mum and Dad (Since Ben is going to college this autumn, I'd have them all to myself and could work at establishing myself as the favorite child)
Soaking tub and fancy shower
Much better food than I buy
Treadmill
Luxurious living accommodations compared to where I am now living
Cons
LOCATION!!!! My parents live in a part of town that I really do not like. There are no good restaurants or shopping nearby, and I would have a 45 minute commute to work! Ugh! If I ever wanted to go out for the night, I'd have to either not partake in the drinking fun or have a place to stay for the evening.
Loss of independence and freedom
Dealing with the "I've taken a step backwards" mentality
Okay, bloggers. So this was a hard post for me to write.
I cannot tell you how many times I wrote a few paragraphs, stopped, shook my head in agony, and then held down the backspace key.
At first, I wrote an incredibly positive and cheerful Valentine's Day post. Valentine's Day is a holiday which celebrates love of all kinds!
That's just what people say to make single people feel better about themselves, I thought, rolling my eyes.
Delete.
I then wrote an incredibly dark and bitter post. Valentine's Day sucks! I thought of all of the couples out there celebrating. Obviously, the women in these scenarios were all wearing beautiful Kate Spade cocktail dresses with matching heels, and the men had on crisp button-down shirts with perfectly ironed slacks. Fizzy champagne, Frank Sinatra over the Bose speaker system, couples feeding one another chocolate-covered fruits...as I sat in my apartment. Alone. Listening to Edith Piaf in my worn Old Navy lounge pants and an oversized t-shirt, having probably just eaten an entire bag of Dove chocolates (fed to myself by myself).
Whoa. CALM DOWN, Jenna. Calm. Down.
Delete, delete, delete.
Then, I actually took a moment to think about Valentine's Day.
More times than not -okay, 95% of the time- I am single on Valentine's Day, so I believe myself to be a bit of an expert when it comes to explaining what the day is like for a singleton. At least a singleton such as myself, anyway.
I love getting to wear pink and red for the day. I enjoy heart-shaped candies. I think boxes of chocolate are just wonderful...I always regret it when I look at the insert at all of the flavors and their respective locations inside the box. The surprise is much more fun!
But I'll be honest here, and I hope my honesty isn't mistaken as being negative or self-pitying.
As someone who loves holidays, I feel a bit left out of Valentine's Day.
The glum feelings I have on Valentine's Day aren't attributed to being alone or lonely, exactly, but they're instead related to feeling somehow excluded from a celebration. It's a bummer not having a boyfriend to make plans with or exchange gifts between on this day. I always feel like I only get to celebrate Valentine's Day to a certain extent. It's as though I don't have full access to the holiday.
Sure, people say that Valentine's Day is not limited to love of the romantic variety, but let's be real here. Hallmark and Godiva aren't making millions today off people celebrating friendship.
Tonight, I am planning on coming home from work and changing into my most comfortable clothes. I am going to enjoy a nice bottle of red wine along with an array of fancy cheeses. I'm going to watch one of my favorite movies. Right now, I am leaning towards watching both Bridget Jones movies back-to-back or perhaps "Love Actually."
Because at the end of the day, singleton or not, when Hugh Grant states with total confidence, "Love actually is all around"?
I believe him. I totally believe him.
I'm still trying to figure out where my own romantic love is hiding, but I know he is out there somewhere.
And maybe, just maybe, he'll make an appearance before Valentine's Day 2014.
Gosh- maybe he is even BRITISH!*
*Note to God- if this is the case, all of these Valentine's Days spent alone were completely acceptable.
This day always makes me think of a time, many years ago, when my Baptist grandma was babysitting my brothers and me. When we arrived home from school, my grandma exclaimed, "Where have you kids been? You have dirt on your faces!"
She then tried to scrub our foreheads clean.
We thought that was just hilarious.
I've always enjoyed the season of Lent.
And not just because it gives me an excuse to dine on some superb seafood and veggie pizzas.
I love the self-examination that comes with the season and the idea of bettering myself in the time leading up to Easter. Of course, as a lover or lists and resolutions, I am also a fan of Lenten promises.
I know, I know...I should do these things all of the time, not just during Lent.
But don't rain on my Lenten parade, okay?
1. Go to mass every week. I've gotten into quite a bad habit of skipping church over the past year or so. I probably only go once every six weeks, which is pathetic, and I know it affects my mood for the worse.
2. Only drink alcohol one night weekly. Time to cut down on the vino!
3. No more pop! With free fountain soda at my workplace, this one is going to be tough! I am trying to replace the pop with water. Good for the skin and waistline, right?
4. Before I go to bed each night, thank God for something positive that happened during my day. I've always been faithful about my nightly prayers, but I often feel as though they are mainly petitions and calls to God for help. I need to be more grateful for what I already have and stop asking for more.
Those are my four mighty Lenten promises. I think numbers 2 and 3 will be the toughest to keep, but hopefully I can stick it out for the next 40 days!
I've decided to reintroduce the same habits I embraced a few years ago when I lost nearly 40 pounds.
Limit my calories to 1200/daily (excluding fruits and vegetables)
No eating after dinner
Exercise for at least 1 hour each day
...and that was all I did.
Boring, I know.
But it was a routine that I personally found easy to stay committed to, and it worked really well for me!
Here are some of my favorite "healthy" foods while I'm trying to slim down.
Oatmeal
Laughing Cow and Wheat Thins (together, always)
Pickles
Soups
Lean Cuisines (obviously)
Crystal Light (not technically a food, I know)
Below are the goals (and rewards!) I've set for myself.
5 pounds: Manicure
10 pounds: Harry Potter tattoo (Sorry Mom. I think this is totally happening.)
20 pounds: A GORGEOUS Kate Spade handbag which I bought during her recent surprise sale! I had the purse shipped to my parents' house and have instructed them to withhold it from me until I've reached this goal.
This is the bag I bought- the Kate Spade Bow Valley Rosa in pink. Isn't it lovely?
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