New Thing #38: Y-M-C-A

I activated my free membership at the YMCA! Since I'm a staff member, I get a free membership for me and a family member for as long as I am employed there. I'm so excited. I'm going to start working out ASAP!

New Thing #37: Drink a la Powder

That's really all that can be said about Slim Fast, the famous diet drink producer. The last time I drank Slim Fast was when I had my wisdom teeth taken out and found out I was allergic to codeine. Guess what I was drinking/eating when I decided codeine made me sick to my stomach? Yeapers--strawberry-flavored Slim Fast. I have trouble stomaching strawberry milkshakes now. But today I made and ENJOYED a powdered weight loss version of the chocolate milkshake. I need to try some new ways to cut down on snacking and I REFUSE to take diet pills. I thought there is NO WAY I can do strawberry again, but how bad can a chocolate drink be? The answer is "not that bad" but I probably will get sick of the shake before I'm finished with my gallon of nonfat milk. Step Two: Start an exercise regiment!

New Thing #36: Get Dry!

I used dry shampoo. It was a sample size of the Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar. I just lathered it in my hands and slicked it over my head. It worked pretty good but I had to pair it with conditioner so I could get a comb through my hair tonight. It smelled pretty good but it was a very unattractive brown color. Very nice to know that these shampoo bars are a decent alternative if I don't feel like dealing with liquid hair products. For instance, on airplanes I don't need to try and fit shampoo in that disturbingly small Ziploc bag.

New Thing #35: Wii Whoopee!

I've always been a Playstation fan, but I was finally introduced to the Wii game console. My friend Amanda has a Wii and I played Wii Sport and Guitar Hero. I made a little "Mii" (a little digital character) that looks like me and we played bowling and tennis. I took the Wii Fitness Test and I have the Wii age of an 80-year-old. Ohh, suck! We also brought out the guitars and rocked it on Guitar Hero! I loved Guitar Hero! I played on "easy" and was able to do a few songs on "medium." It makes me want to learn how to play a real guitar.

New Thing #34: Family Day

I had a nice family oriented day. In the afternoon my dad, my step-mom, and my step-brother came up to see my apartment. They had not been able to make it up until today so it was fun to show them around my neighborhood, my apartment complex and my cute place. We had a lovely lunch at McGrath's Fish House and we walked around the Powell's Bookstore.

Later that evening I went to see my mother and together we finished the Tuesday Oregonian crossword puzzle. Lately I've taken an interest in using crossword puzzles to try and improve my logical thinking, my spelling and vocabulary. When I was growing up, my mom used to do crosswords everyday but now that she can't use her hands much anymore, it's difficult to do them by herself. It was fun for both of us to try and figure it all out. The theme was "periods of time." I sat on the couch and read out the clues and we talked it through and we finally got it all! I have never done a crossword puzzle by myself--maybe that will be another new thing this year.

New Thing #33: SBUX drive thru

I ordered a hot chocolate through a Starbucks drive thru. It was a little silly, I mean, I worked for Starbucks for like a year and a half and it was strange to be sitting in a car waiting for my drink. I ordered and got my drink in about 3 minutes. That seemed like a ton of gas to be wasting for a $2.45 drink. But when I got it, it was so good tasting, it made the wait seem very much worthwhile.

Yay Starbucks!

And yes, this is a pic I found on the Internet! hee hee hee :P

New Thing #32: GOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!

First I would like to take a moment and say I am thinking of the families whose lives were affected by the 9/11 attacks. I have my own sad thoughts concerning this day.

Today my friend Erin and I went to go see a Portland Timbers game. They are the professional soccer team. It was really fun. They lost against the Charleston Battery 1-2. Suck! But they had "thirsty thursdays" so beer was only $2! Good deal! It was my first soccer game in general that I saw live but Erin played soccer in school so she was able to walk me through the rules. A portion of the crowd was very excited flipping scarves around and streamers and banners and their "mascot" was a guy wielding a chainsaw. That was a little freaky. When the Timbers scored a goal, he sawed off a log ring and held it up for the wild crowd.