Sad fact: since meeting Lobster I have gained about 10 pounds. While I didn't know it at the time, when he and I met, I was at my "happy weight." Your "happy weight" is the weight at which your body feels happy and you feel happy and your clothes fit right and you have a good fitness routine down and you enjoy it. When Lobster and I started dating I was on a very strict diet and exercise schedule and I felt great. And then I got myself a boyfriend and everything started deteriorating in the food and exercise department.

I know I'm not the only one that this has happened to, ladies. Fess up, now.

Anyhoo, Lobster himself had nothing to do with my slow decline. I just seem to have no willpower when we're out on the town eating at wonderful restaurants or drinking with friends or hanging out at the house with homemade cheesecake and a nice bottle of wine. Of course, I also let myself stay up too late to spend time with Lobster and then I'm too tired to get up and go workout in the morning, especially on Saturday mornings. All of this has led to ten ugly pounds creeping back onto my belly and thighs, which led to pants that were just a bit too snug, which led to having to buy pants a size up, which led to a complete meltdown, which led to throwing myself a pity party...you get the idea.

So I decided that I need to give myself a swift kick in the rear and do something about it. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong right now, but I know a few things I could be doing better. For example, I should run more like I used to. The last few weeks in boot camp have taught me that I have become significantly slower and weaker than I was a year and a half ago. So I need to build my endurance by adding more running back into my routine. I need to continue with weight training, but focus more on the major muscle groups with compound movements. I need to seriously rein in my appetite on the weekends and stop pigging out just because it's a weekend. And I need to go to bed on time so I can get up in the mornings and get my arse to the gym.

These are my goals. I am determined to lose the evil 10 pounds that have been making me depressed for the past few months. I am determined to be in the best shape of my life on my wedding day, especially if we go to some tropical island for our honeymoon and I have to prance around in a bikini for 7 to 10 days.

I can already tell this is going to be a hard time to start kicking myself into gear, though. It's ridiculously cold outside which makes it really, really difficult to get out of bed and go to the gym in the mornings. I'd much rather run outside in the park, but at these temperatures I might lose my toes to frostbite. And then I wouldn't be able to run at all because I hear you can't balance without your toes. I wonder if that's true?

Anyhoo...so wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.

Dear February,

You're kind of depressing. Every day has been either bitterly cold or raining (or both). I can handle one or the other with spurts of beautiful weather in between. You know, like normal. But this dreary pattern has to stop. Now. Thanks.

Desperate for sunshine and flowers,
Me

* * *

Dear Dallas Drivers,

Let's go over this one more time. It's just rain. It's not even raining hard. Mostly drizzling. What's more, it's not even freezing rain. Granted, a measure of caution should be observed when traveling at high speeds on wet roads, but a complete lack of reasonable thoughts and/or actions is uncalled for. If you happen to be one of those drivers that turns into a fear-struck, panic-driven, irrational nincompoop when it rains, I encourage you to stay home for the sake of the rest of the world.

Irritated because you make me late,
The car behind you riding your arse

* * *

Dear Universe,

If you could be so kind as to (finally) give Lobster a good job, we would be ever so grateful. It's making him depressed and irritable, which is in turn making me depressed and irritable, and two depressed and irritable people living in a small space with two cats (one of which is the devil, by the way) makes for a scary household. So, please, for the love of Pete, give Lobster a great job. Today would be nice, but I'll give you until the end of the week.

Impatiently yours,
Me

* * *

Dear Football Season,

Thank God you're over. I'm taking back my t.v.

Good riddance,
Not a fan (unless it's Longhorn football)

* * *

Dear Universe,

Hi, it's me again. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I would also be really appreciative if you could lead me in the right direction with my career. I need more creativity and less billable hours. If you could work on that right after you give Lobster a job, that would rock.

Still impatient,
Me (again)

* * *

Dear Monday,

Sigh.

Me

I have heard great things about the new Dave Matthews Band c.d., Big Whiskey & the Groo Grux King. I have been a huge fan of DMB for ages and when I heard that critics were saying that this new c.d. was their best yet, I knew I had to get my grubby little hands on it.

I'm only about 3/4 of the way through it and I'm digging it. It's very...groovy. I don't know how else to describe it. It's classic DMB but with a bit of Bob Marley and The Beatles Yellow Submarine thrown in. And it's kinda spiritual, which was a bit surprising for DMB. But I like it. You should check it out.

Groovy, baby.

I posted this on my wedding blog but had to share here too. Just too funny.

This weekend Lobster and I went to the Galleria to look for his wedding band. We went to the jewelry store where Lobster got my Shiny and the matching band and he found a very cool Tungsten band that was (amazingly) within budget. We didn't put a deposit down because Lobster wants to keep looking, but it was good to get an idea of what he wants wrapped around his finger for the rest of his life.

While at the Galleria we decided at the last minute that we might as well start registering for gifts since one of the stores we knew we wanted to register at was just downstairs. So we hightailed it to Williams Sonoma and got signed up for a registry. The nice sales woman explained the process and showed us how everything worked.

And then she handed us The Gun.

The woman, God bless her, began to hand me The Gun and I quickly corrected her, pointing out that this store was, in fact, Lobster's mecca. He nearly snatched The Gun from the poor woman. Lobster looked a little nervous at first, but as soon as he zapped the first item he was as giddy as a school boy.

To say that Lobster went nuts is a bit of an understatement. More than once I had to use my veto power. For example:

Lobster:  "OOOHH! We need this!"
Me:  "What is it?"
Lobster:  "It's a [insert random, useless item here]?"
Me:  "We don't need that."
Lobster:  "Yes, we do! It's awesome!"
Me:  "How many times since we've been together have we ever had a need for [refer to useless item here]?"
Lobster:  Pause. "Well, we might need it someday."
Me:  "Put it back."
Lobster:  Giving me a dirty look. "FINE!"

He would then run off to zap more items. I can't be sure that I caught all the useless ones, but I sure did try. Later, we went to Crate and Barrel where I proceeded to go nuts with The Gun. Lobster was not as excited with the home goods as I was but as soon as we got to the kitchen section, he perked right up. We spent a good eight hours registering and we were both exhausted.

When we got home I realized that we hadn't registered for any linens. I just hadn't found any that I liked enough. So I did a bit of research online and finally found exactly what I was looking for at Restoration Hardware (be still my heart!). So I registered online and I was a happy, happy girl.

I think it's going to be funny when we get a bunch of kitchen stuff and Lobster's going to be the one that freaks out about it. I will be pleased as punch, too, because it means that he will be cooking more. Bwahahaha!

Does it make me boring that I find it sublimely awesome that I have absolutely nothing planned for tonight? I mean, I have a bazillion, gagillion things I could do when I get home tonight but none of them have to be done. The very thought that I could do absolutely nothing and get away with it makes me giddier than a kid in a candy store.

Of course, let's not discuss the fact that any time I find myself with this blessed gift of down time on my hands, I promptly squander it away by taking on a massive time-sucking project like re-arranging a closet or going through dozens of old magazines and tearing out only the good articles.

Poor Lobster can't get me to sit down and watch a movie with him to save his life. Oh, no, wait. As long as he pours me two glasses of wine with dinner I will zone out in front of the tube for a good three hours before promptly passing out on the couch.

I realize now that there might be a method to his feeding me wine on Friday nights.

Smart boy, Lobster. Smart boy indeed.

This weekend my friends and family and I celebrated my 30th birthday. For the past year, I'd been really dreading turning 30. I felt like I was "losing my youth" and all that. But for the past couple of weeks I've come to realize that my 30th year is really going to be one of the best years of my life. I am marrying my best friend. We will probably start looking into buying a house. We'll likely get a dog. I have amazing friends and family who love me more than I could ever know. What do I have to be bummed about?

With that attitude, I celebrated my little heart out on Saturday night. We went to one of my favorite sushi restaurants called Edohana in Fort Worth. About 16 of us sat around two hibachi grills as the amazing chefs put on a great show. We ate really great food and my favorite sushi roll of all time, the Temptation Roll. YUMMY! We had saki and wine and beer. My mom and my future mother-in-law did sake bombs together (did I mention I have the coolest mom and mother-in-law ever in the history of moms?).
 After dinner we went to an improvisational comedy show called Four Day Weekend. They are hilarious! Seriously, if you are ever in Fort Worth on a weekend evening, go check them out! After the show it was nearly midnight and I generally turn into a pumpkin at midnight, so we decided to head back home. I was happy to go unwind and play with the new camera that my mom and dad got me. I still have to play with it outside during daylight hours, but I thought this picture of my sweet Bella kitty was pretty good for a random indoor shot.
Anyhoo, Sunday morning my mom and sister and I were supposed to go to the Dallas Bridal Show but I decided that we were all so tired and busy that we could wait until the Fort Worth Bridal Show in February. So I just took care of Lobster (who is fighting a bit of a stomach bug) and ran some errands and generally laid low all day. I wish I had taken a day off of work for my birthday but I figured I'd need to save up all my time off for our honeymoon.

It was a really fun birthday and I am so blessed to have such great friends and family! Here's to a fantastic new decade!

We have a winner for the Postcard Giveaway from UPrinting.com! I used Random.org to randomly select the winning comment and comment number one was the lucky winner. So, congratulations carissajaded! If you would email me at girlvtheworld@gmail.com with your full name and email address, I will get to work on getting you your free postcards!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway! There will be more to come so stay tuned.