Weekend roundup – packing, Real Housewives, Psych, snow, et cetera

The vast majority of our work is done. The office is almost finished, and the kitchen is done. We have no dishes that are not paper or plastic. Fast food, here I come!

It is currently dumping a metric asston of snow on my area. Unlike Colorado, we do not get powder. The snow is wet, heavy, and in the process of freezing. I think everyone’s hoping for a snow day. I wouldn’t complain, but I think it’s unlikely.

I really enjoyed the yoga class I attended tonight. It was just the right amount of work and mindlessness. I worked up a really nice sweat and got really loose. Possibly I’ll work up another yoga post tomorrow.

On to the TV!

Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion. Oh. My. God. It was CRAZY. The very best part was when Dwight came out and called them all “Très, très, très de classe.” I almost fell off my couch. It was brilliant. From NeNe calling Kim a hooker and a racist, to Kim claiming she had cancer and then saying she didn’t have cancer and then claming she never claimed she had cancer, it was sixteen kinds of reality TV trainwreck (if the train was carrying cars full of gunpowder). It was wild and I’m really hoping they do something with this show for another season.

Psych had another holiday episode! I love this show. It’s the funny version of The Mentalist, although it was around before the mentalist. The chemistry in the cast is fantastic, Dule Hill is a comic genius, and the storyline did not disappoint. The show is consistently funny and sweet. Love it.

Criminal Minds was fantastic this week. I generally think it’s fantastic, but it was a very cool exploration of first impressions, dating, and breaking out of your own awkward shell. That, plus serial killers! It’s another cast with great chemistry and solid crime plotting.

Bones was delightful, as ever. Love the Brennan/Dad interaction (with a side of Booth).

The Mentalist continues to be fantastic. I think the part I like most is Simon Baker. The character he plays has suffered an awful tragedy but they show him as a regular guy. He’s not swallowed up by his tragedy, he still enjoys life and has a sense of humor. His history is his history and influences his actions, but he’s not some morose lump. He gets along, as people do.

Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not sure WTF is going on there, but this whole Denny/Izzy thing is just creepy and icky. It’s too bad, because her storyline with Alex was starting to be interesting and now she’s a whacko and he’s going to get the shaft again. Also, sex with dead dudes = creepy. On top of that, her dead dude is a stalker. Worst kind of dead dude, ever.

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Black Friday: survived

Mom and I were packing last night so I didn’t get to bed until about 12:30 this morning. I did most of my necessary shopping on Amazon.com yesterday, but mom had a few things she wanted to check out today. We left around 7 and were done by 10:30. We got decent parking places, didn’t wait in long lines, and found more than a few deals. All in all, successful – and uneventful – outing.

After breakfast (post-shopping) I needed a nap. I fell asleep around 12:30 pm and then resurfaced at about 3:00. We spent the afternoon packing and the entire upstairs of the house is complete (including all the beds dismantled). The entire basement of the house is complete. The living room is 99.99% complete (the movers have to move the furniture), the kitchen is 98% complete (all that remains are a few dishes and the food), the living room is 95% complete (it’s relocation central), and the office is about 50% complete. The back of my car is chock full of more things to be donated to Goodwill tomorrow.

My brother- and father-in-law are coming over tomorrow on an errand of mercy for Spouse.

Next week I’ve got a lab exam and a paper due. In my spare time, I might start reading Proust was a Neuroscientist. One of my students (who lives near Boston but comes to my classes during the holidays and vacations) recommended it and I’m pretty excited about it.

I’ve got a couple more tables to clean off tonight, so I’m going to go do that.

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Best of: Thanksgiving

1. Macy’s Rickroll.

Love Comedy Central. They are full of epic win.

2. Home for the Holidays. Best holiday film ever. It’s hilarious no matter how many times I see it. The turkey part is particularly fabulous.

3. Me and mom hanging out, cooking OUR turkey and stuffing. Delicious and mellow. Loved it.

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Magazines – going green

With the holidays coming up, it makes sense to talk about low cost and environmentally friendly gifts. I know, “Magazines? What?” But magazines are usually (not always) $20 or less for a year’s subscription. AND they CAN be environmentaly friendly!

There are a few magazines that I read regularly. Not surprisingly, most of them are yoga magazines. They’ve all got good information and I’m the kind of person who wants to hang on to them. I’m also the kind of person who has great intentions about cutting out the articles or recipes that I want to keep (so I can get rid of the rest of the magazine) and never quite gets around to doing it.

Last year I discovered Zinio. com. It’s a fantastic website that offers magazines in digital content. You can choose to download them or read them from the Zinio website. Either way, they’re not stacking up in piles next to your end table. The best thing is that you can read them forever. If there’s an article you want, you can print it out. You only end up with the paper you want, rather than being stuck with a whole magazine to discard. 

I’m lazy. I know I’m lazy. And this site is brilliant for me. My two personal recs: Yoga Journal and Women’s Health.

Yoga Journal (which I also link in my sidebar) provides a lot of great information and insight from several different teachers. I don’t love all their advertising (a common complaint of people who aren’t fans) but I also only look at the advertising if I’m LOOKING for something. I skip all ads and go right to the articles I want. Having this in e-format is fantastic because you can print out the information about asanas, or their ‘master class’ and save what you like. It is not my favorite yoga magazine (see: Yoga + Joyful Living) but it’s a close second.

I didn’t get into Women’s Health until Spouse started reading Men’s Health. Men’s Health has great articles about fitness and diet with an upbeat and pro-health/anti-negative message. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Women’s Health does the same thing but is tailored to the specific concerns of women. It’s not just Men’s Health for Women. I love their recipes. Their articles are about lifestyle change and positive attitudes. You’ll be hard pressed to find a single negative word in each issue. And they’re full of REALLY PRACTICAL tips that you can actually use. In almost every issue there’s a 15-minute workout feature (or something like that) with an emphasis on correct form (a personal tweak of mine). It does a great job of covering everything – diet, health, beauty, fitness, sex, and relationships – and makes it feel like you’re talking to your best (smartest) girlfriends about it. It’s not gossipy, just educational. The recipes are great and you can also find workouts and workout playlists at their website (which is also awesome). Not only that, it manages to be ENTERTAINING. Loves it.

If you were only going to choose one of these magazines, I’d go with Women’s Health. Their most recent issue has quite a lot of yoga info in it and overall I think it translates better to general workouts.

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True Blood finale

They did a pretty great job of wrapping up their first season. The characters have all been flawed but likeable. There was a lot of humor to balance out a fair chunk of violence. I think the show ultimately lived up to the hype of their theme song, I’m just hoping that the cast will all work on their southern accents during their break.

Things I’m looking forward to next season: 1) Bill’s protegee. 2) Hoping it wasn’t Lafayette’s toes peeking out of Andy Bellfleur’s car. 3) More Eric. Loves me some Alexander Skarsgard.

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Utterly lazy and yet victorious

This fall, to celebrate moving to Colorado, I decided to live like I was in Colorado. That is to say, I didn’t do a damn bit of yard work. I barely mowed. I did not rake.

I loathe raking. Fresh fall air notwithstanding, it’s my least favorite thing to do outside. This would be so bad, but our neighbor’s really leafy tree hangs over half of our back yard. 

I’m not a fan of redundant tasks. Making the bed is pointless, because I’m getting back into it (unless you have a dog, natch). Raking the leaves before every single leaf is off the trees makes no sense because you’re just going to have to do it again before it snows. Spouse insists that the raking and re-raking is the only way to do it. This year I proved him wrong!

To start with, I had to mow today. I never got my last mow in at the end of October and it’s been very cold with heavy morning frost. I’m leaving in less than 3 weeks (yay!) and it’s supposed to snow most of the days this week, so it was now or have the house look abandoned. It was supposed to be warmer today than yesterday but of course was not. So I mowed in 34 degree weather.

I did not rake. I started on one side of the yard and gradually mowed/mulched my way to the other, shifting the leaves with each strip of grass revealed. It took longer than normal to mow (2 hrs vs. 40 minutes), but when I think about all the time I didn’t spend raking I’m entirely proud of myself. Laziness prevails again!

Alas, it means I mowed right through yoga and I’m considering heading to bed. I rewarded myself with a dinner of potato skins and Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli. Dinner of Champions.

Now I’m watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, snugged up on the couch, and looking foward to an early night.

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Progress, at last! (Plus a PSA)

The master bedroom and basement are completely packed up. As in, I don’t have to go in those rooms ever again packed up.

Tomorrow we will finish the guest bedroom. That leaves only the office. We will SO be done by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. I am completely and utterly relieved. Unfortunately there will be almost no room in my car for people.

In unrelated news, this blog has gotten over 5,000 hits. A large number of them (possibly a disturbingly large number) are searching for ‘naked family.’ A lot of Ariel Tweto fans have stopped by (as well as Ariel!) and True Blood fans. I’m pretty consistently surprised how many people are looking for yoga playlists. My playlist page gets a regular number of hits, so I’m hoping people like the mixes.

Once I get moved all the way out west, I’m sure there will be more yoga blogging because I’ll have more time for it (yoga and blogging). There will also be lots and lots of pictures.

For those of you with RSS feeds, you may have noticed a domain change. I’m actually at yoga-grrl.com now (though the wordpress link will obviously still work).

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Twilight. Meh.

I did not love the book. I did not like the movie. If you loved the book, you will probably love the movie. I found it to be kind of stilted and too chock full of high school female angst, pregnant pauses, and swelling musical interludes. I liked the second book much better but I don’t think I’ll bother seeing the movie when it comes out. The only thing I DID like about the movie was Bella’s mittens. I clearly need some.

My main issue with Stephanie Meyer’s vampire mythology is the cold skin thing. Who wants to make out with a corpse? Ew. Also, SLEEPING with a corpse. I’m not one of those people who gives off heat in my sleep (see: Spouse) but I sure as heck would absorb the cold and it would wake me up. Also, CORPSE. EW.

More packing for me tonight. On the TV front, still loving The Mentalist. They did a masterful job of bringing in his old family tragedy this week. Loved it. Grey’s has taken a turn for the crazy but I still adore Kevin McKidd. His chemistry with Sandra Oh will keep me tuning in. Loves them. I thought the True Blood finale was going to be this past Sunday but I was wrong. I actually felt terrible for Jason in the episode, which is a testament to how great the actor is. And last but not least, I am LOVING The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I am positively EXCITED for the reunion special, which promises to be a trashy napalm trainwreck. I can’t wait.

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I’m having a hard time finding my motivation today.

My solution is to drag Shane to an afternoon showing of Twilight.

Speaking of movies, I overheard the weirdest conversation yesterday. I was sitting in one of the cafe areas on campus and heard two college guys talking about HOW EXCITED they were to see MADAGASCAR 2. That’s right, Madagascar 2. “The first one was hilarious and I heard this is way funnier!” I was kind of gobsmacked. I mean, if they’d been talking about being excited for Quantum of Solace, I wouldn’t have even blinked. So. Strange.

At any rate, the timeline for our move is highly dependent on how much stuff we get done this weekend so after my little movie motivator I’m going to crank it out.

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It wouldn’t be US moving if there weren’t complications

My mom was just diagnosed with papillary cancer. They are catching it early (luckily) and we’re hoping she won’t need radiation.

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