Someone Send Me to Fat Camp

I made this cake yesterday.

I needed to use up some rhubarb, so I told myself I would make it and bring it to rowing.

But then I burned it....

I was too embarrassed to bring it to practice.

So I ate it by myself...

Why would I do that?

I need help.

Lars? Tony Perkins?

14. Get Experience at a Vet Clinic

Hi Friends!

Thank you for keeping your fingers crossed for me if you have been.  It must have been difficult because they would have been crossed for a very long time!  But guess what - I finally managed to arrange some work experience at a vet clinic!

A terrible selfie of me and part of Phil watching cheetah surgery in Africa

I don't start for another month, but I am really excited as it is one of the major steps to fulfilling my career goals.  I'm hoping to make a very good impression, get nice references from it, and maybe, just maybe it will lead to something else.

My dad told me the more you do the luckier you get... 

well Dad, I'm trying to get lucky!

If I'm really lucky perhaps I could figure out how to get them to pay me!  

Thanks again for your prayers, well wishes, and finger crossing. 

25. Teach Heidi To Clean Up Her Toys

This is why my dog is cooler than yours.  

I know its not perfect, 

but for just 6 months old we're pretty proud of her.  

Yes, you can call me a crazy dog lady.  

Now what do I teach her next???

Running Mishaps and a Gorilla Suit

Hi Friends,

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately and my totally emo posts.  Nick had last week off work and he expressly stated that he wanted to "Do Nothing".  Despite my best efforts to convince him that doing nothing is way boring, thats pretty much what we did so I literally had nothing to share with you.

We did splash out on some brand spankin new trail running shoes ("trainers" as they say in jolly old England) and Nick joined me on his first run since a week before our wedding when he was telling me to "hurry up" and ended up falling flat on his face, resulting in him being high on Vicodin and wearing a moonboot on our wedding day.  True story.  

Luckily, this run went better, but not perfect.  I set some ground rules to start, he had to run half a step behind me and I was setting the pace.  We planned to run to the reservoir and see how we felt...

Via

Well we made it there which is about two miles, and the whole time he was running next to me like a freaking gazelle and making "Can't you run any faster" faces as we got passed by much fitter dudes.  I wanted to punch him in the face, as predicted.  Somewhere between miles two and three he got tired, but I was totally in the zone.  He started walking and I kept jamming along for another mile to some techno beats, when all of a sudden as I took a deep breath, a MASSIVE bug went down my windpipe.  I mean I didn't see it but it felt HUGE, and it felt ALIVE.  Like it was crawling around in there.

When Nick caught up with me I was vomiting marmite and toast on the side of the road.  And he was bitching about the fact that he was "SO hungry he was going to die" and how he wished he could swallow a bug for some sustenance.  Kill me.  We walked the 3 miles home -him wishing for free chocolate bars to magically appear on the side of the road, and me wishing for a glass of water to wash down whatever it was I swallowed.  

Will we ever be good running partners?  I don't know.  But we are trying to get in shape for a 10k in september!  And I am kinda sorta thinking about doing this....

Via

It's a 7k run or walk through London dressed in a GORILLA SUIT to raise money for gorilla conservation - called the Great Gorilla Run!  I cant decide whether it seems like a lot of fun - 1,000 people in gorilla suits = hilarious, OR pretty miserable - running 7k IN a gorilla suit = hot, sweaty, mess.  Hmmm......  What do you think?!  

Through Someone Else's Eyes

Last night I was feeling a little like curling up in a ball and crying uncle.  The job search is NOT going well and sometimes I wonder whether anyone even reads my applications.  I was a bumbling, puffy eyed mess, and in between my temper tantrum, my husband sat down with me and tried to calm me down.

Now I know I exaggerate, and when I say I know what I really mean is I have been told this before.  In the moment I don't actually believe I exaggerate at all.  So when I was having a bitch fit about the fact that I've "Been unemployed since last July" I honestly believed that to be the case.

Then Nick put my situation into more realistic terms....

-I was not actually allowed to work in England until September.
-I started doing temporary stuff for his work at the end of October.
-I went for a job interview at the beginning of November, and not only did I get the job I applied for, I got promoted on the spot.
-I worked for them until Christmas, when I decided to quit because they wanted me to work past the time I could get a train home.
-After Christmas Nick got a job in Sheffield, so I focused on getting prepared to move rather than continue the job hunt in London.
-Now I've been looking for a job for about two months, which is about the same amount of time I spent hunting before I got one in London.  Good things are coming my way soon.

Jeez, that doesn't sound SO bad does it?

Maybe we are all just too hard on ourselves.  Sometimes we just need someone to point this out, so we don't crawl into bed in the middle of the afternoon and say Fuck the World and give up and take naps to make the time go faster... um... I mean no of course I never do that!....  I think sometimes if I wasn't constantly nagging myself, and more accepting of the fact that I'm not perfect, I would be unstoppable.  

 What do you criticize yourself for?  And if you stopped what would you be capable of?