GNO week 1

Good morning, dear readers! Last night started up a new session of Girls Night Out, and so far, I'm very excited. Each session is with a new group of girls from a different school. This semester, I'm working with girls from the middle school that I went to and that my younger sister is attending as well. While it may be too early to tell, this group of girls already seem more behaved than my last group. My biggest hope for the next two and a half months is that they really are this well behaved and their behavior stays this way.

I'm working with another advisor this session (three different advisors thus far) and she seems to be really good at her job. She said it's her fifth year in the program and I can definitely tell. She's very firm, and starts off like that so there will be no questions later in the program...but not bitchy firm. I can tell already I'm going to like her. She relates to the girls well, but makes it known she has a low bullshit tolerance. The perfect balance, if you ask me.

The first week is like the first day of the semester in school. We explained the program, introduced ourselves and talked about the expectations of GNO. After a few ice breaker activities, our physical activity was Zumba. I was really excited for the Zumba, especially because the class was taught by the lady whose class I take every week at the Y. Most of the girls seemed to really get into it. After the night ended, a friend/dance teacher at the Y actually wrote on my page that the Zumba instructor told her how impressed she was with the girls. We're off to a great start! The only problem that I had was not realizing we were going to be doing a physical activity on the first night. I wore Chucks instead of quality tennies and was a tad dehydrated. Which means that today my calves are killing me with every step I take. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

The advisor told us some of the other physical activites that we're going to be doing, and I'm really excited for them as well. Some of the activities are repeated every session and some are new, to me at least. We will be doing yoga, step, kick boxing, and relay races, among others.

25 Things you may or may not know about me.

I've grown tired of Sucky and Super posts. Maybe I'll come back to them in a few weeks. I've done this a few times before on Facebook, but I never grow tired of the list of random facts about myself. I'm really fascinated by these for a number of reasons. One, I like to give friends/readers/followers a little insight into my life. Two, I find it really interesting what people decide to share with others and what people find relevant enough to share. Three, I find almost every time I learn something new about myself, something in the back of my mind that I've never really verbalized. So, enjoy.

1) I get freckles on my nose in the summer. I really like them.
2) I love reading detective/murder mystery novels, but I know that I could never think out a plot to write one on my own.
3) The word panties creeps me the fuck out.
4) I still have all my trolls from the 90s and don't plan on ever changing that.
5) It's a life goal of mine to have a room of nothing but books in it.
6) I think my toes look weird if I don't have polish on.
7) One of the best things anyone ever said to me was just a passing comment by someone who probably doesn't even remember saying it.
8) No matter how long I consistently work at 8 am, I will never be a morning person.
9) I don't like rice.
10) If I'm not married by the time I'm 30, I may have a meltdown.
11) I've convinved myself I'm going through early menopause.
12) I don't eat very much red meat.
13) Children, until they reach their teens, are my weakness. But I don't want any of my own.
14) Even after college, I still mark up books, highlighting and noting worthy passages or wonderfully written lines.
15) I would love to work for a non-profit.
16) I could probably eat eggs every day of the week.
17) Failure terrifies me.
18) I hate the cold with every fiber of my being. Moving to a wamer city has crossed my mind more than once.
19) I'm scared of being in a dead-end job the rest of my life.
20) Oatmeal is such a comfort food for me. I love eating it in the winter.
21) I've never had one cigarette or tried one illegal drug.
22) If I do get married, I'm not changing my last name or my mind about it. Let the flame war begin.
23) I am so head over heels in love with my man friend, it's disgusting.
24) Fuck is easily my favorite swear word. I probably say it every day. Several times, in fact.
25) I am one crabby lady if I don't have a soda in the morning

Sucky and Super

I dropped the ball on a post last week, so today's Sucky and Super post encompasses the last two weeks. Enjoy, dear readers!

Sucky:

My memorial tattoo

• Tuesday was the eighth anniversary of a very close friend's passing. January 3rd is the hardest day of every year for me, and not once does it get easier. My friend passed away very young, two weeks before his 20th birthday. Not only was the loss of him very difficult, but the cause was even worse. He was killed, and everyone (cops included) knows who did it. Unfortunately, evidence was tampered with at his base and it likely to never be proven. Every year on the anniversary I visit the cemetery with flowers for him. This year I wasn't able to make it before it got dark and it was closed. I felt so guilty, and that made dealing with it even harder on myself. 
• Friday I had the worst day of work I've ever had at this job. Now that the holidays are over, callers are back to being rude, impatient, ungrateful, demanding and argumentative. The day had been dragging, and I was growing more and more frustrated every hour. In the last hour or so of my shift, I had the most unbearable call I could ever imagine: 18 straight minutes of nothing but being shouted at, argued with and my offers ignored. I was actually shaking and nearly in tears when I transferred the call to a supervisor.

Super: 

• New Years Eve started off on a Sucky note, but it actually turned out to be really nice. I'm too broke to be able to go out, so I decided to have some friends over, but plans got switched up a little, so it ended up being just my man friend and me. I made dinner for the two of us, which got destroyed at first but the second try was significantly tastier, and we listened to a local radio station's top songs of 2011. After a rough start, our first New Years together was really nice.
• New Years Day my man friend and I spent the day at my dad's. We watched the Packer game, another win of course. I'm so excited for the play-offs to start! We also stayed for dinner, which was a great end to the day. 
• For Christmas, I got a lot of exercise materials, which I really like. I've been trying so hard the last few weeks to stick with healthy eating and working out and am determined to keep it up for once. This past week I worked out four days using my new fitness hula hoop, my Biggest Loser yoga DVD, and went to my weekly Zumba class. I can already see a difference and it's a great feeling.
• After four years of credit card debt, I have it nearly paid off. As of today, it's down to $30, and with Christmas money I got this weekend, that balance will be paid off tomorrow. There are no words to describe how relieving this is. 
• Last night was my final Christmas celebration. We had some great food and got to spend some quality time together. My mom moves down to Tennessee in a week, and it was our last family event with all of us together for a while. 
• I had a phone interview this week. Again, nothing in my field, but a full-time, permanent position in town for a company very well known in this area. There's actually a lot of room for advancement in the company, and I'd be making pretty decent money as well. I have several friends working there, one of whom is how I heard about the position. I feel like the interview went well, but I'll just have to wait and see.