fresh fridays

1.  So on Tuesday, I think that I had a full blown asthma attack.  I have never had one in my life.  My chest, throat and nose were all on fire.  And then I wheezed for a good 24 hours.  Devin says it sounded like asthma.  This summer I will have lived in Pittsburgh for 6 years.  I will be leaving with my PhD, seasonal allergies (began about 3 years ago) and now apparently asthma.  Thanks Pittsburgh.

2.   It turns out that 15 minutes can feel like an incredibly long time.  Especially when it is spent doing yoga abs with Bob.  Especially when you just finished doing an hour of warrior yoga with Bob.  Especially when you did this two days in a row.

Side note:  if you like yoga, you should definitely get this DVD.  I have done yoga for about 6 years, but doing this DVD for the past 5 weeks has helped me improve an unbelievable amount.  I had sort of plateaued in my practice, but this routine has pushed me so far beyond what I was capable of before.  It is such a great feeling.

3.  So this is cute.

But this is really cute.  

I cannot believe this actually happened.  Normally if Janey jumps on the chair when Deeley is on it, there is a lot of hissing and biting and then Deeley is gone (and Janey is left to enjoy the nice comfy chair).  But for whatever reason, this time, Janey laid down nicely and Deeley allowed it (for about 2 minutes).  I wish I could have gotten a better picture, but I was afraid that if I got up, the cuteness would all be over.

4.  Have you seen the Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt commercial with John Stamos?  I do not really like greek yogurt, but I do like (love) John Stamos so I might have to try the yogurt.  I know that he was on Glee for a bit, but why doesn't he have his own show right now? 

"If you were a chick, who is the one guy you would sleep with?"  

"JOHN STAMOS"

5.  Big Bang Theory: best show on TV right now??  (and let me be clear that by "right now", I mean while True Blood is not in season).  I don't know why I have never watched this show before.  I think because I am getting my PhD in a sciencey related area, I thought this show would be dumb, but man is it hilarious.  Like so incredibly funny.  I spent my NYE watching reruns on TBS with Devin.

6.  Alright, so probably (definitely) my favorite books are the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum books.  There are 18 books and I have read every one of them twice (with the exception of "Explosive Eighteen" which came out about a month ago).  I own books 1 and 3 (because the library didn't have them available when I really wanted to read them) and my in-laws just bought me 2 and 4.  I decided to go on amazon and buy 5 - 15.  They come in sets of three, so I am waiting for 18 to come out in paperback before getting the last 16 -18.  I forgot that I also need the few "between the numbers" books.  

I highly recommend that you read them.  They are sooo unbelievably funny (lol funny, your husband giving you an awful look wondering why you are crying laughing at a book funny) and such a fast read.  I really want to start reading them again.  I may allow myself one or two per weekend.  

But speaking of these books, the first book "One For The Money" has been made into a movie starring Katherine Heigl (coming out 1/27).  If you ask me, they chose terrible terrible actors for the roles (except for Sherri Shepherd as Lula, that is perfect!).  I am not sure if I even want to see it.  I probably will.  And it will probably be disappointing, but who knows, it might surprise me.

Also speaking of books being made into movies, I have to go see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."  I read all three books and saw all three Swedish movies, but I want to see the American version.  This is definitely not the type of movie I would normally go to.  It is scary and I hate scary movies.  And not like Saw/Paranormal scary, but like real life scary.   Since I have read the book, hopefully I will be prepared for the scary parts and not jump out of my seat or yelp.  That would be rather embarrassing.  We'll see.  Devin is pretty excited to see it.  It is more of his kind of movie.

7.  So  I have been full steam ahead with my New Years goals.  I have been exercising and I have been drinking a ton of water.  Turns out that when you drink a ton of water, you do a ton of peeing.  A TON.  It's awful.  I feel like a child or a pregnant woman. I cannot go anywhere without having to pee every two minutes.  Like really pee.  In pain have to pee.  

Yesterday, I picked Devin up from school and he wanted to go to the apple store.  I said ok, but that we couldn't stay long because I would have to pee.  How awful is that?  And sure enough as soon as we parked, I had to pee.

I hope that it gets better.  Can your bladder get used to something like this?  Please say yes.

8.  So is it a faux pas to use reusable shopping bags at a different store than the one you bought them from?  We jumped on the reusable bag wagon right when we moved to Pittsburgh.  Back then, we shopped at Giant Eagle Market District in Shadyside and bought like 5 bags.  They are old and ripped and Devin uses them to transport equipment. Then a little over two years ago, I stopped shopping there entirely and starting shopping at Whole Foods.  So, I bought 3 bags for there.  I also bought one bag from Penn Mac because I usually shop there every couple of weeks.  I have recently started shopping (every couple of weeks) at Trader Joes.  I feel compelled to buy a bag from there.  You definitely cannot use a Giant Eagle bag at Trader Joes or Whole Foods, but can you use a Whole Foods bag at Trader Joes?  I just don't know.  My gut says no.  I may need to just buy another bag.

9. Back to my yoga for the warrior.  About every third time I do it, Deeley decides she wants to love me real hard while I am doing it.  That means walking around and rubbing up against me (usually while I am in a Standing Split), licking my face, and flopping on the mat next to me.  It makes me laugh so hard.  It makes me lose focus and balance.  It makes me love her forever.

10.  I finally got to go to Coca Café when we got back to Pittsburgh.  They have the best fresh squeezed OJ ever.  In love.

11. We just got an apple tv.  Devin gets to mirror stuff from his iPad now (and both of our phones and computers - we should own stock in apple, we own every device they have ever made).  It is pretty fun.  It means that anything you play on your device, gets played on the TV.  For example, Devin was playing music from his iPhone, displayed on the TV, through our speakers using the comcast remote aimed at the apple TV with no cords or wires involved.  He said "this is the coolest thing I have ever seen; I love this."  It keeps amazing him.  Actually blowing his mind.   I am glad that he loves it.  He works hard for his money and deserves something fun.  

Update:  Devin thought it would be hilarious to start playing Chili Con Carne on the TV (at a rather high volume) while he was downstairs at his computer and I was sitting on the couch next to the TV (obviously without telling me).  I did not think it was very funny.  He claims that it was an accident.  I am pretty positive he specifically went through his iTunes library and picked that song to scare me with (I have a love/hate relationship with the song).  Who knows.

12. I have a few recipes that I have been meaning to blog about.  Like a blueberry galette, sour cream pancakes and homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Plus some pictures from our New Years crabfest.  Please be patient with me.  It has been tough getting back into the routine. I promise to get them up soon.  Maybe one later today even.

So Long!