My new exercise machine is named Jake

he was abandoned by some heartless fuck*, taken in by friends of friends, and has just found a home with us.

He's only about 4 months old (don't know for sure but I've had lots of Labs before and he looks about 15-17 weeks) so I have to be careful not to overwalk him lest I damage his growing joints, but by the end of the summer there will be no such thing as too much exercise for Jake - and I already know that I need a really good excuse to get off my lazy ass.






*please pardon my trooper's tongue, my less potty mouthed readers, but I felt it was particularly justified in this case.

La Vendange

I've got something to work towards again.

It's la vendange (the grape harvest) in Champagne.

My French friend was telling me about it, and I said it'd be cool to do. I worked on a lettuce farm for two summers and it was a ton of fun, even though it was the hardest work ever. She asked me if I'd like to go with.

Hell yes. (It won't cost me any money, since I'll make money doing it)

Now I just have to make sure I'm in shape for the 7 - 10 days of hard work in September. I am very, very excited though.

It's like Canada here!

Ahhhh. Sun and heat. Finally, after 36 months, a summer in Ireland!

It's been gorgeous. I've been appreciating every minute of it. Drying clothes out on the line. Drinking bulmers with ice. Going down to the docks for the Volvo Ocean race nearly every night to listen to the bands and eat falafels. I even bought a skirt and two dresses! Holy crap, I know! Other than formal events, the last time I wore a skirt or a dress was nearly a decade ago. (Other than my purple runners, these items are the first clothes I've bought since November - which is why I don't feel guilty)

I have a bit of sunburn from watching the Red Arrows at Salthill over Galway Bay without wearing sunscreen. Thankfully, I hadn't bought my skirt yet, and only my forearms and my face and a bit of décolletage got it. My 60 year old self is cursing me, though, for the wrinkles and age spots. (sorry!)

Actually, yesterday I wore a tank top without another shirt covering it for the first time in ever. I've always been too self concious to do that. And while I've put back on more of the weight that I lost than I would have liked and I have no real reason to be less self concious, I somehow am. So woo. Wearing skirts and tank tops (not yet at the same time) look at me go!

Today I'm sticking close to home though, I think. My feet are in major pain from all the walking around in flip flops I've been doing. (I walked downtown yesterday at lunchtime, took me an hour and I enjoyed every baking minute of it) Blisters everywhere, and the entire ball of each foot is a giant blister. I'm walking around as if I'm 90.

Presenting Theodore!

Er, nothing else to say so I just thought I'd post this video of Theo, John, and my disembodied voice...

Clutter

So, John and I have actually started the long avoided process of tidying and organizing our new 9 month old apartment.

The bedroom and bathroom are clean, and the living room is pretty much done - I just have to tidy up the coffee table. The kitchen just needs a once over. It's the office that needs an overhaul and decluttering.

Personally, I have few problems decluttering. I don't find myself attached to most stuff. (Books do not count. It is a sin to get rid of a loved book - what if the new owners treat it badly?) However, John is VERY sentimental, and not only that, but he is a collector of memorabilia of all kinds. I mean, I keep unusual, discontinued, or foreign coins that I come across, and now John does too. But a small box of coins doesn't take up much room. And to be honest, most of the commemorative sports things and other stuff that John keeps don't take up much room either and can also be hidden away in a nice box somewhere.

However, there are a few items that I'm pretty sure I'm going to be stuck with for a long time, despite having no use for them.

- A hulk hogan frisbee, still in its shrink wrap, that John begged for from ebay nearly 4 years ago. I had my reservations at the time, and now that the shrink wrap is all dusty, I still do. I think I'll tell him we either take it out of the shrink wrap and hang it up in the office, or it's got to go. It serves NO purpose.

- Several souvenirs that John's sister has gotten us from her travels. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that she thinks of us when she's away, but I'd much rather postcards than the box of four tiny white and blue porcelain boxes from Portugal, and the copper cut out sphinx plate from Egypt. These would count amongst the things I would have trouble giving up, if for the simple reason that they were gifts and I feel bad for getting rid of them. John would also (predictably) feel bad.

- A huge box of newspapers with important sporting event results that John has been collecting since he was like, 6. His sister (rightly) made us take it with us last Christmas since John wouldn't let her get rid of it. Seriously - it's this box that makes me wonder if John's got some kind of a hoarding issue that is just waiting to rear its ugly head. I'm not quite sure what to do with this. I want him to make up a scrap book type thing out of them - keep the important clippings and so on, in a more compact package. Hopefully he'll agree that keeping them in a box isn't helping them age well, and it'll be cooler to show kids and grandkids a nicely presented book than a box of old crumpled yellowed papers.

- A few little souvenirs from when John and I backpacked around the UK and Ireland. This was actually the trip we took together after just meeting, so it's when we fell in love. So the little 4 inch bear that says "yorkshire" on the sash it's wearing that John bought me, I think I'm stuck with it, even though it just collects dust. I mean, I have all our memories from that, and we have the photos from our trip, AND we're still together! I realise we don't need that little bear, but if I tried to talk John into donating it? holy crap.

I think I'll try, anyway. I just really don't want any of this stuff anymore.

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In other news, I have lost 7 lbs since starting Lexapro, which is nice. Apparently it's good at keeping me from binge eating. However, it seems to have lost it's effect as an anti-depressant, which is why I'm taking it in the first place. After initially feeling much better, I'm back down.
I'm going to give my GP a call and see what she says.