In the past month I've been trying to mildly alter the way I live my overall life. I'm making some improvements that are long overdue. Either that or I'm on a diet. But its not really a diet because diets don't work, weight watchers does. Who hasn't seen those commercials? Unfortunately because (surprise) I have a lack of disposable income, I'm doing it kind of weight watchers light. I am counting points and all that, just not going to the meetings, or paying for it. The whole point of weight watchers is the community and you loose more when you have support and all that jazz. For right now I have enough support in the office. Its a group effort and we're in it together, some doing better than others. Overall its an easy thing to live by. Its portion control and watching what you eat. I've already noticed a little bit of a difference in my body. I'm fitting into some things I haven't been able to in the past 6 or so months, woohoo! I'm also going to the gym three or so times a week. I was supposed to go this morning but its dreary and rainy outside and I am definitely not that dedicated yet. But I have to go early Friday morning for a personal training session to figure out what I need to be doing to start really loosing weight. This all goes back to my New Years resolution, "Do what you say you're going to do." I'm working on my eating habits and going to the gym.

While there is nothing but love in the office, outside the office I want to bang my head against the wall. And by outside I mean the kids. Somebody really dropped the ball when teaching most of these kids the idea of respect towards anyone, not just authority figures. I'm not used to being called a fucking bitch to my face, nor being called fat by a 15 year old boy. That was my day yesterday. I got called fat twice (it was a general comment towards everyone in the room, but still. Seriously, that kind of talk is unacceptable and will NOT be tolerated (thats pretty much what I say to them). My thing is, even if a kid in the south would talk to me like that they'd still turn around and say ma'am afterwards. Its just a different way of thinking down there. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. Its just that things can be trying every once in a while. They've lived tough lives and breaking down the barriers is a long and arduous process. But I'm off to do it all over again until late tonight. *sigh* Somedays I wish I just was waiting tables. At least you could be mean back to the people!

Another birthday has come and gone. People wonder why I have serious anxiety when trying to do something with lots of people like my birthday or a party. Its because things like last night happen. While it wasn't a repeat of graduation night or anything, I am still not happy with some of my friends. We had made plans and at the last minute they decided they wanted to go somewhere else, so they did. I still had Patrick and three other friends. We had a bunch of fun at the place we went to. It was fantastically horrible, but still a blast. Then we went and played scatagories, which isn't a great idea after drinking. Well, its all over and done with now. Not much I can do about anything.

Now I'm just counting down the days until I get to go back to Birmingham for a long weekend. Not that I have high hopes of seeing anyone while in Tuscaloosa, because honestly, my track record for friends down there is less than perfect. Everyone knows I'll be there and I said I'd try to call people but I'm not going to hold my breath. I just want to go hang out with my family and at least see tuscaloosa. Even if it is just me and Patrick out down there it will be okay.

Today was a very happy day in our little household. Six months after being "moved in" we finally got our bed frame. Yes, now our bed is off the cold floor and our room looks less like a cell and more like, yanno, a bedroom. I am terribly excited and now I might actually make an effort to decorate it. That is if I ever have enough money. But thats a whole 'nother story. I want to run to home goods and all those good stores and buy up all the brown and gold stuff I can find. Maybe tomorrow, after all it is MY BIRTHDAY!

Right now my birthday plans consist of hanging out with Patrick tomorrow night, Mike on Friday and then everyone else on Saturday for the real shindig. We're going to gussy up and head out to Prov, which is a local club. I've never been there but its past time to diversify our drinking locations, seriously. I don't think we've been to a new bar since...October I believe. We are in a serious alcohol rut. All will be well come Saturday night. I'm excited about the festivities, I'm even thinking about trying to do a VIP thing if it doesn't cost too much money. I am going to call tomorrow night.

Its strange, I'm constantly thinking about things to post about, writing them in my head and whatnot, then as soon as I get around to sitting at the computer my mind goes completely blank. What else is going on in Caro-world? I am slowly but surely turning into a middle aged housewife. This past weekend I added knitting onto my list of old lady activities. Okay, so cooking and watching Medium in and of themselves, not so bad. When you mix in some knitting? Well, lets just say I need to get out more. Even if it is just to a friend's house to ...knit. I bought a book about knitting so I can do more than complete the "scarf" that I'm working on. We'll see if it turns out into something more than a yard of knitted ickiness soon. I plan on going to the knitting store down the street from me this week to see if there are any classes. According to my grandmother I have a marginable amount of talent and I enjoy it. I figure why the hell not? Speaking of being a housewife, I have 2 great new websites for shopping that I've stumbled across (one I found in Real Simple magazine, my new favorite next to cooking light) www.thecompanystore.com and www.uncommongoods.com. They're awesome.

The job has been job like. There's not too much I can talk about here, considering confidentiality and all that. It might be the most trying thing I've ever done. These kids are TOUGH. They're all awesome, but sometimes I can't wait until my 3 day weekend without the phone. Drama and stuff going on is never ending. I am beginning to understand why this position is only a year. And they definitely don't pay us nearly enough. But this is a great job to do while I make those big decisions about my life, like what I'm going to be when I grow up. At the current moment I'm leaning back towards teaching high school english. Maybe thats what I'm really meant to do. I'm beginning to think so.

One last thing, I have new phone and for some reason all my numbers weren't saved on my SIM card. I need pretty much everyone's number. Yeah, I suck.

Right now it is a positively warm 59 degrees outside at 10 in the morning. in january. I am officially loving this weather and plan on enjoying it for the next few days. This means there will be no bundling up, i can wear shoes other than my 2 pairs of boots and short sleeve shirts!! Absolutely fantastic. Of course this lovely weather is going to end with rain and then more snow. Such is life in New England I guess.

This weekend we didn't do much to enjoy the weather. Luckily I was off but the only thing I really did was help patrick out and work the raffle at brown. Basically I'm the best girlfriend in the world, and I made $15. On Sunday we had a much more active day. I made a whole turkey dinner and we had friends over. I cooked everything from scratch, including the gravy. Things turned out fantastically and I am so proud of myself. We also broke out the board games along with watching the premiere of American Gladiators. I love the fact that we can get together with friends and play Scrabble and Scatagories and (most) everyone is happy. The premiere of American Gladiators was pretty awesome too. There was a lot of screaming, yelling and cheering. Overall the show gets thumbs up, at least until we get sick of it. The day was nice, kind of like being a kid again. What is more iconic than our childhood than American Gladiators? The show changed a bit from the original, but it was totally worth it.

Right now we have a lot of things in the working for this upcoming month. It amazes me how busy we get! We're trying to plan a bowling night, roller skating night along with all the normal weekend stuff we try to get in. On top of that Patrick and I are going to see Spamalot in Boston AND we'll be having company for a few days. And of course my birthday! Being a grown up kind of rocks, especially when I have such wonderful friends. Of course, being a grown up is calling me right now, I have to leave for work. Going back after the 3 day weekend is always hard. Especially because I don't have to be there until noon. But my children need me and I have to go to the gym this evening after work.