Round Up October

What books and/or magazines did I read this month? 

The proper care and feeding of marriage by Dr Laura Schlessinger. I think Dr Laura is one of those people you either love or hate. Upon reading this book I found myself on the fence. I liked some of the things she said and hated others. She seems VERY anti-feminist, or perhaps a better analysis would be that she is very set in her own views of what feminism is? And honestly they differ to mine. I believe that feminism is a woman deciding what she wants, and striving to reach it. For each woman that will be different, for some a career, for other that could be a stay at home Mom. Each of those is feminism IF it is what the woman wants. Being a housewife is feminism if the housewife WANTS to be a housewife. Dr Laura seems to blame a lot of the problems she sees in marriage on her view of feminism when in fact it's just people in a bad time in their relationship for one reason or another. Mostly it seemed to be one partner either being neglected or acting selfishly. I know many people like her though, and I DO believe in SOME of the 'help' she gives in the examples but overall it just left me with a bad feeling about her as a woman and author. I do plan on reading more of her work though to give her another go... verdict is out on this one.

 

Fitness magazines: fitness, Fitness RX for women, Oxygen. Usual health and fitness stuff that I read every month. I did a lot of research too this month on fitness. I am working on a plan to relaunch my fitness website with more content, more research, weekly workouts and indepth articles. So lots of website programming research too!

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

Toy Story 3 - finally caught this last showing at our local cheap cinema, yep I know it's almost released on DVD/Blu-Ray (early November I think?), but when the cheap cinema is just $3 each you don't argue! That's why we wait! Anyway, after seeing so much hype surrounding this movie and how good it was I was hesitant to go see it but it was every bit as good as I'd been told! Loved it!

We also watched "The Other Guys", which I'd heard nothing about but it was pretty good. I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it but that moment 5 minutes in on the rooftop, well I was like "WTF?" then realized it was supposed to be a comedy ;) That was the best bit of the movie for me though!

What special days did I celebrate and how?

No special days this month :( We were supposed to go out for a race day out at Willow Springs but the organizers canceled the event due to low attendance. Pretty pissed about it as it was supposed to be Bobs birthday gift :(

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

I came down with a weird 24 hour stomach flu. I was at the computer after one lunch thinking "wow my tummy feels terrible, I should go lie down". I was just lying down and decided to text Bob so he wouldn't call and interupt me if I fell asleep...

In the space of 30 minutes I went from "yay lunch" to "oh look there is lunch again!". I HATE puking! I can handle all sickness symptoms except puking :( Anyway I slept a LOT that day, ate some toast around 3 then repeated that till stomach settled. Bob came home early to look after me too :) Spent the 24hours either in bed, or on the sofa, then almost exactly 24hrs later I started to feel better. By the evening the next day I was pretty much normal!

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

We helped our friend greg install his projector screen for his projector TV. We had ulterior motives for helping really as we are considering getting one ourselves so it was a good thing to have a proper play with his before we committed to it. After seeing Greg's though we REALLY want one! Just got to figure out the logistics of where to put the projector & Screen. Greg had a 130" screen but we're thinking a tad smaller at 120" lol! This photo doesn't do it justice, trust me... it's awesome!

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

As we were up in Camarillo picking up my 1/2 marathon race packet, we decided to hit up The Curry Leaf Indian restaurant.Our first time here and only found out about it because I Googled vegetarian restaurants in the area.

It's a small bistro style restaurant, very nicely done. We started with  Garlic Indian Fries, which were quite garlicky (love!) and spicy ketchup. Usually we go for pakora or samosa so this was a nice change.

For main course we had Paneer Tikka Masala and  Mushroom Pepper Fry. We loved the Paneer dish but the Mushroom dish neither of us was keen on really. We left 1/2 of that one. Lesson learned though!

Another new restaurant we heard of recently and finally tried is Swagat Indian restaurant in Moorpark. Unfortunately the first time we went it was VERY busy, and VERY understaffed. We sat for 25 minutes before we even got a menu, and only got one then because I asked. 10 minutes later we still had no service so we left. Now I'm not one to call the race card, but an Indian family walked in 15 minutes after us, got seated, menu's and served immediately. Clearly this is NOT acceptable! You should take orders in the order people come into the restaurant!!! However we decided to give them another try and went one lunchtime for the buffet. The food was nice, the waiter (owner?) recognized us from the previous visit and apologised for the wait previously.

Another new place we tried was Hummus King, after Bob and Greg reading about it on Quarry Girl, Greg had been and said it was great, so we were eager to try it too! Bob and I shared a Schwarama plate, with sides of fireballs and fries. Delish! Definitely go again if we are in the neighborhood! Also if you like veggie food, check out Quarry Girl for vegan/veggie restaurant/food reviews!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Make Up! I posted before about some make up I got by ELF and NYC but this month I bought a couple more nail polish colors and more base products, including a compact with a mirror. Didn't notice but the one I picked up last month from ELF didn't have a mirror! Pretty useless if you ask me! So I got one from NYC for just $4, bargain!

It was Clinique bonus time at Macy's so I made a purchase for something I've been wanting to buy for a while. Eye cream. I'm getting some lines around the eyes, guessing due to combined aging, sun damage and Bob being incredibly funny and making me laugh constantly! Anyway I want to try some eye creams out, and hope to do reviews on a few soon! I love Clinique products so this was a treat for me, plus I got these bonus items to try.

• High Impact Mascara in Black
• Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion
• Eyes 1, 2, 3, Color Compact in Berries or Nudes: Three shadows, three applicators, and a how-to card ( I chose nudes)
• Different Lipstick in A Different Grape or Long Last Lipstick in All Heart (I chose All Heart)
• All About Eyes Serum De-Puffing Eye Massage (can't wait to try this!)
• Cosmetic Bag Set

What were this month’s disappointments?

In August I mentioned about booking Bob a birthday 'event' for his 40th birthday. I booked him a spot on a Racing Adventure day in Los Angeles, racing a Corvette race care around a track. Well it got canceled due to poor attendance. I'm quite pissed off about this for numerous reasons, mainly because this was his gift for a special birthday, it was a huge event we'd looked forward to, I managed to keep it a secret from Bob and now it's canceled. Bad move on their part ruining my baby's day!

What were my accomplishments this month?

I ran a 1/2 marathon! I posted about it already, it was a bit of a disaster, very poorly organized. I learned some valuable lessons from it though so that's a good thing I guess? Plus I ran a 1/2 marathon! 13.1 miles!

I got my first pay check from Gold's gym! That made two paychecks this month! Whooohooo! I also taught a couple more classes at Gold's this month too. Also landed another couple of classes at Moorpark Athletic Club so happy about that too!

Anything else noteworthy to record?       

Not much really, other than this morning I'll be out at Moorpark gym instructing the charity 90 minute Spin session.  

So Happy Halloween!