He's Got a "Monopoly" on My Heart

Here's the thing... At least I warned you that I adore bad puns.

Last night, I received an exciting package from KMart, Intl. -- the "Here and Now" edition of electronic banking Monopoly. Or so I thought...

Anyone who also follows me on Twitter knows I've been desperately seeking this game.

Why? Ian, his brother Tyler, and one of their good friends, Logan, and I played it incessantly in OBX last summer. Logan had played it in his Economics class, so he and Tyler ran out and bought it at Wal-Mart in Corolla when Mario Party 5 bored us. I've been playing the game since I was in elementary school. I must say, I'm pretty damn good.

Hey, when your dad's an accountant and a financial planner, playing Monopoly is just the beginning.

Logan and Ty got me hooked on the electronic banking with the modern properties, debit cards, and tokens.

I asked Santa for the game for Christmas, naively thinking that there could only possibly be one electronic banking edition and that Santa and his elves at Target could read my mind and know exactly which version I wanted. WRONG!

Santa got the game that he thought I wanted, but our telepathy must have been malfunctioning.

Nevermind that. Santa wasn't offended in the least that I wanted to return it and search for the correct version. In my quest post-Christmas, Santa and I visited no fewer than 3 Targets, 2 Wal-Marts, and 2 Toys 'R Uses, and I called no fewer than 3 stores around Richmond. No luck.

My family has been driven insane now that I have ordered the game online from 3 different reputable vendors, and received 3 copies of the same game Santa brought me originally.

So where does this nightmare end?

Ian, God bless his soul, was bored last night -- and probably scared to death of my maniacal rants about a board game -- so he drove around the Roanoke area and found the game at 2 different stores.

Haaaaallelujah!!

Needless to say, random acts of kindness and the little things in our relationship are what make me love this mug so much.

[Again, please ignore the date stamps on these; I know not what my camera does when I turn my back.]

And there you have it.

This guy is one of the good ones.

P.S. When I journey to Roanoke tomorrow, I'll update you on whether the 2 games he reserved at 2 different stores are suitable for my pickiness! ;)

Tatted Up

I'm a (pretty) firm believer in freedom of expression. If your whole thing is about slam poetry, be my guest. If you enjoy graffiti, I like your vibe, provided you're okay with an arrest record. If you choose to cover your body with piercings and tattoos, I'm not going to sneer at you. In fact, I'd like a tattoo of my own. [Gasp!]

Source

Hi, I'm A.K., I'm 23, and I'm officially tattoo-free. My parents generously paid for my undergraduate school at Longwood University, and they are currently paying for my graduate school career and my living expenses. Their policy is simple and straightforward: no tattoos while you're living under our roof. I have my own beautiful little apartment where I live from mid-August through mid-December, and from mid-January until mid-May. This means that I still technically "live under their roof" during the summer and on school-sponsored breaks, and, of course, in the sense of not having to slave my way through college. I consider myself to be a generally respectful person, so why wouldn't I heed the request of two people who are so graciously funding my dream?

My sister-slash-best-friend, Caroline, is 19, and she has two tats -- a butterfly inside a heart on her shoulder blade and a simple star outline on her hip. She acquired these babies with a friend before she turned 18 at a surprisingly reputable (that is, as reputable as is possible) tattoo parlor in downtown Richmond. I was a junior at Longwood when I found out several months after she had gotten the tats. Obviously, she acquired them without my parents' permission. But enough about that. Tattoos get a bad rap, and Caroline is a good person. However, with her ink, she acquired a desire for more ink.

For as long as I can remember, she and I have wanted to have "Only God can judge me" tattooed on the outside of our right foot. Ian claims, "Everyone has that tattoo." I've never seen anyone with it, and Caroline has seen one person. So what? It may be a commonly used phrase, but it has personal meaning for these two sisters.

What's stopping us? We're both of age now. Well, Mike and Ruth are planning to fund the next 2 1/2 years of our college careers, and then Caroline plans to attend graduate school. We'd like to travel to Las Vegas for our joint graduation in 2014, so perhaps with that not-so-distant dream will come two special tattoos and a message in which we both believe whole-heartedly. 'Til then, we're pretty satisfied with how great we've got it.

P.S. Do you have any ink? If so, were/are your parents okay with it? What does it mean to you?

I Almost Chickened Out

Today, I experienced something new. Mom, Caroline and I took a break from aimlessly shopping to meet Dad at Chik-Fil-A for lunch. I usually order the Chicken Strips salad, large waffle fries, and a soda, and I bypass the chicken part. Today, however, I decided to actually eat the chicken as a part of my decision-making process in potentially going omnivorous... As a nod to healthier eating in 2012, I skipped the fries and ordered a Diet Coke. Woohoo!

Please disregard the date on the picture.

I did, however, order my favorite dressing, blue cheese, to adorn my first taste of chicken in a long while. I figured, if I'm going to experience meat-eating again, I might as well dive head-first into a salad I know and love, and top it with the chicken America bemoans isn't available on Sundays. So, here's my salad, in all its caloric glory. I must say, it was delicious! I did not experience any of the stomach issues some of my vegetarian friends have warned may happen when one eats meat after being long-time meatless.

I still haven't made a firm decision about leaving vegetarianism behind me. Some would say that by having continued to eat seafood and by eating meat today, I am no longer officially a vegetarian. Ironically, I'm considering opposite-pole decisions: going omnivorous again, or eliminating all forms of meat from my diet (meaning not eating real meat or soy protein products). Currently, neither prospect sounds right for me. I may need to experiment before deciding on a more permanent diet. Any suggestions?

P.S. I'm looking for suggestions, critiques, criticisms, or whatever you've got about how to make this blog more fun, more tech-savvy, and more sophisticated! Thanks for reading :)

I Resolve

Happy Monday! Being that it's only January 2nd, I thought it would still be appropriate to share with you my resolutions for twenty-twelve. They are as follows, in no particular order: (1) Stop planning for the future so much and focus more on the present, (2) Be nicer to Ian and stop allowing outside pressures to affect our relationship, (3) Follow up on the fitness goals I've set for myself, and (4) Treat my body better.

Being that I'm a grad student dependent upon a full-time job as early as May of 2014, of course I need to plan for the future (e.g., plan my course load accordingly, note employers hiring, befriend professors and guest speakers for possible future endeavors). But I don't need to plan to the extent that Post-Its overwhelm my other school supplies, or such that my poor planner snaps in the middle from the strain of constant frenzied flipping back and forth. I plan to spend more time in 2012 enjoying the present moment and savoring time with the ones I love. The recent hospitalizations of one of my godfathers, Bill-Bill, and the recent passing away of my former employer at ACAC have only reinforced this resolution for me.

I really should be nice to my boyfriend, shouldn't I? After 2 years, 1 month, and 21 days, he's still by my side, "warts and all," as my Human Development professor says. Sometimes I tend to say things without thinking about how they'll affect his feelings or how they sound to those around me who don't necessarily share my somewhat warped sense of humor. If I could make fewer jokes at his expense and pay him more compliments, I think it could go a long way in our relationship. It's my firm belief that partners in committed relationships should be equals; thus, Ian deserves to be treated as such.

People ask me constantly whether Ian's "The One," when I think I'll be engaged, how many children we'd like to have, blah blah blah. Any sane person would smile and nod and answer the endless string of nosy questions before wondering to herself, When am I going to be engaged? How many children do I want? These questions placed strain on me, which in turn placed strain on Ian. Hey, we're two (reasonably) broke college kids. I'm unemployed by choice and I've just finished my first semester of grad school, while he's heading into his last semester of undergraduate school before heading off to med school at VCU to study pediatrics. We don't have the time, money, or resources to be planning a schmaltzy event right now! What I do know is that we are planning on doing all of these things someday when we are in the same place at the same time :) For now, we are supporting each other in living our dreams.

Source

I began the 2011-2012 school year with strong fitness goals. I went to the gym between 4 and 6 days a week, spending 20-40 minutes on the treadmill before gritting my teeth and hitting -- wait for it! -- the multi-press, ab crunch, inner and outer thigh, mid-row, bicep curl, leg extension, and tricep pushdown machines. When I arrived home December 9 for my five-and-a-half week Christmas break, my fitness activities (and sadly, efforts) went to hell. My dad loves to ski and I love to snowboard, but for the past few years, the slopes at Wintergreen have kicked my ass. It's not a secret that I could and need to be in better shape, and not just for a 4-hour lift ticket. Snowboarding with Dad is part of my motivation; losing weight and feeling better overall is my main source of motivation.

Source

On that note, I need to treat my body much better. Everyone always says "You only get one life so live it up" and other cliche mantras, but so many of them are alarmingly true. I am only going to get one body, and I can only keep funneling alcohol into it or spending whole evenings in smoky frat parties for so long. I want to die peacefully in my sleep, not wasting away from disease I could have prevented. High cholesterol, heart disease, osteoarthritis, clinical depression, diabetes, and macular degeneration are all heredity factors in my family; emphysema and liver cancer are not.

Whew! Okay, so maybe this online account of my resolutions will hold me accountable. Maybe you can help, too! What are some of your resolutions for 2012?

Dilemma

Happy New Year! I think 2012 has a much prettier look than 2011, and I'm excited about the changes this year may bring. Speaking of which, I have a dilemma I've been pondering. Here's the thing: I've been a vegetarian since March 2003. On the rarest of occasions, I've tasted various meats (e.g., escargot and duck on the Royal Caribbean cruise my family took in 2010), but I've stuck to my guns for nearly 9 years. I eat seafood once a week or so, but I usually feast on Morningstar Farms, Quorn, and Amy's vegetarian and vegan products -- chick'n cutlets, tofu, organic burritos, black bean burgers, soy protein patties, etc.

So, what's the dilemma? It's a new year, and I'm looking to make changes. I have to decide whether I'd like to be meatless forever. I tentatively discussed the idea with my boyfriend (Ian) and my parents. Ian's reaction was entirely supportive, which I suspected -- he's a total carnivore. My dad's position was more accusatory; his opinion has been for quite some time that I've maintained my vegetarianism as an "I told you I could" measure. I was like, who [if she isn't serious about a lifestyle change] decides to complicate her lifestyle and cost her parents twice as much to be meatless when she's in the eighth grade?! Apparently, this girl. Mom's position was ambivalent, as I suspect my sister's (Caroline) position will be. I've always been one to consider my family members' opinions before taking drastic measures, but I'm also an adult and an individual. Hmm, what to do?

If you have suggestions about the transition between meatless and omnivorous, I'm definitely on the look-out! I know I need and want to ease myself into this transition. I'll continue eating seafood such as shrimp, pollock, and crab meat, but I'll probably add in sprinklings of chicken (which I've previously found to be bland and boring) and non-red meats (I'm not looking for a cholesterol spike!).

Tomorrow's lunch will be Bottom's Up Pizza in Shockoe Bottom, so I'll order Ian's and my usual favorite, white pizza with caramelized onions. I'll be back with more on the possible omnivore shift. Ta ta!