m o n d a y b l o o d y m o n d a y

well friends, its that time of year again. time to attempt the tedious job of getting ready for...dare i say it? bikini season. cue screams of horror. as a general rule i take care of myself, i eat pretty healthy, try to walk the dogs every day, the usual. but i would be lying if i said that i like working out. its horrible. back when i danced professionally, i just assumed that i was a fit person. incorrect. apparently the only reason i appeared to be in shape was because of hours and hours of rehearsals and being too tired to eat. who knew?! 

in conclusion, i have started a regimen of eating smaller portions, healthier, simpler foods, and am cutting most of the alcohol out of my diet for a couple of months. as far as working out goes, i really enjoy Kayla Itsines workout guides. they are totally straightforward but intense and you will be sore immediately (which, as a dancer is how i know I've been productive after a workout). pain is, after all, only weakness leaving your body ;)

lifting boxes and packing for a move is also a super good way to get in shape. especially now that i have packed up most of the smaller things and am having to take apart and box up furniture. damn you ikea! why do they make it so hard?? it looks so simple on the outside, then you open the box and 8 trillion screws, a ton of washers and bolts, and one tiny L shaped tool pop out. not to mention the instructions are always in swedish or they are those weird little illustrations of how the pieces fit together. my dad actually told me, after putting my ikea bed together, that if i ever moved again we were going to burn the furniture because he wasn't going to touch it again. 

thankfully, with Brittney's help i have gotten almost everything under control. yesterday was too nice to stay inside for long, but we managed to pack for like an hour before heading out to find drinks and a patio to sit on. sunshine!! i even got a little sunburned, it was amazing. we should be able to have everything packed up and ready for a yard sale this coming weekend. who knows how big of a shit show that will be. yard sales in trinity park tend to get a little out of hand.

all in all things are going smoothly though. my timeline is tarting to actually make sense, and the move is essentially lined up. only t-11 days until the truck gets here!

w e e k e n d h u s t l e

this weekend was a blur. it seems like whenever i want time to slow down, it speeds up with a vengeance. and since this is james' last weekend before he leaves for pensacola (two months before me) it was over before i knew it. we also had a million things to get done this weekend which didn't help, all fun things mostly though! 

saturday we spent the day in charlotte with j's aunt, who has been kind enough to bestow some great furniture on us for the new place. we also made a trip to ikea, which lasted a grand total of 37 minutes. that has got to be some kind of record...we may also be the only lunatics who go to ikea for a can opener, but you try making chili with only a pair of scissors and an attitude to open all those cans! of course we also walked out with a bajillion tea lights and some other accessories but hey, thats ikea for you. 

after a wonderful lunch at a cute place called The Rabbit, we booked it back to Durham for the Duke vs. Syracuse baseball game. of course the blue devils killed it and the cameron crazies were on point with their less than tasteful but awesomely hilarious taunts. my parents nagged a couple of extra tickets for this game and the four of us were able to have a nice dinner together before the game. i know its going to be tough leaving them when i make the move to florida so its nice to spend any time i can with them :) 

today james had to help his brother and sister in law scrape the popcorn ceiling off in their new place. as a real estate agent i do my best to avoid any such home improvement activity and leave it to the professionals. if it involves sloppy goo falling on my head, I'm probably not down (must be all of those years watching people get slimed on nickelodeon). so instead i baked cookies for the scrapers and got some stuff done at home including a nice hot batch of chicken and wild rice stew. 

overall, I'm happy the weekend was so productive, and i knew this day was coming where james and i would have to be apart for a little while. its not like we haven't been here before, what with his job as marine and everything, but this time i got to keep him for two whole weeks! soon enough we will get into our new place together and this won't be the norm anymore. but, until then, i have 3 weeks to somehow manage to pack up all of our furniture and belongings that are scattered from here to raleigh to charlotte, pack them onto a 26 foot moving truck, and get them down to pensacola without a hitch. then, a month more to wrap up a few real estate deals and my nanny gig, pack up the fur kids, and make the move myself. no big deal, right? As my parents would say, at least it builds character...

until tomorrow though, we are going to spend our last night watching the new season of House of Cards, drinking wine, and doing absolutely nothing. happy sunday everyone!