week in review

i feel like i am losing my marbles.
and i might not be the only one that thinks this.
i come back to work from lunch one day and my co-worker looks at me, and says,

"Lindsay, you have a lot on your plate, don't you?"

i shrugged it off and told her I was fine! she then smiled, and said, "well, you are wearing your sweater inside out..."

so yeah.

1.) my personal pizza

so good ole Papa murphy's has a new idea. I saw the poster, and when my parents ordered pizza tonight, I knew it was time to try it.

you guys. for THREE BUCKS i got this personal little box with a dough crust, cheese, toppings and sauce in little containers. I got to make it how I wanted and ten minutes in the oven and I had my own personal pizza. so fun.

and a papa murphy's temporary tattoo.

the worker told me mom, "have fun with the kid pizza" when she was leaving. She smiled, and said it was for her 25 year old daughter. ;)

1.) my baby sister had her final interview for getting into the UW master's of education program. i sent her a little happy package. :) yep. these were included. muahahahah. i think this picture might make me more happy than the socks did for her :) target, duh :)

2.) next time someone chides you for walking on a treadmill at the gym (oh wait, is Drew the only one? :) tell them to try one of these double panel treadmills.

okay. i thought it was stupid. what's the difference? let me tell ya. this thing is CRAZY. even walking at like a 3.4 mph speed, I got a better workout than one of my flat 3 mile runs. you can adjust the height that the treadles move up to, and it engages SO many more muscles. disclaimer: you really have to pay attention though, no daydreaming or dancing to beyonce's "single ladies" on the ipod.

3.) 5:1 ratio rule by marital relationships researcher John Gottman.

This dude observes couples in a "love lab" just talking to each other. He looks for certain indicators and can objectively tell if in 15 years, the couple will still be married or divorced. His accuracy is at 94%. He also came up with the 5:1 rule based on his research.

Stable, "happy" couples have a 5:1 ratio between POSITIVE interactions and NEGATIVE interactions.

in English, this means: for every criticism or negative comment, it takes five positive comments to balance.

He also calls the collection of this "the reservoir of positive feelings." It's like a savings account where you daily deposit positive comments and compliments. These are saved up for that unfortunate, rainy day when there are some hurt feelings. This 5:1 ratio works to help balance these negative emotions.

so like I told Drew, if he says something mean or says he doesn't like my NEON shoes (see below) I expect FIVE compliments in a row. :)

but really. this is SO interesting. Just take a second and think. what do you think your ratio is? could it be improved? Gottman knows what he is talking about. :) He stresses that negativity WILL happen in your relationship (like seriously? how hard is it to put the toilet seat down? i have a feeling come August 18th I might just know the answer to that question,) but strengthening the positivity can help :)

4.) while we are looking at pictures of shoes, these were my tootsies on Friday.

GAP is rocking all the neon stuff right now, and my friend Amanda inspired me. SO fun.

disclaimer: the first comment of the day on them (cuz people they are NEON) came from a man in front of me at the checkstand in the grocery store. it was 1PM and he was purchasing two items: a case of budlight and a pound of microwaveable bacon. considering HE said my shoes were "totally tubular," I feel like I was looking goooooooood. :) I just feel like the day can't go bad when you are wearing neon shoes.

5.) We are starting to look for bedspreads.
Drew has ruled out anything with "flowers, plants or vines." Ummm... soo? stripes? geometric shapes? i don't get it. yuck. :) I am trying to convince him this is not girly. whaddaya think? He has informed me it is out of the running because it contains "nature." :)

6.) I signed up for a photography class at the technical college. It was called "SLR photography for beginners." misleading.

The teacher is 80 years old. It is SO hard. I literally feel like he was speaking a different language. He explained HOW the aperture and the ISO and the shutter speed influence a picture, but not where those buttons are on my humongous intimidating camera? I'm too scared to ask.

i did learn ONE thing though. literally, I understood ONE thing for the 120 minute lecture.

so, when I go to take a picture, I usually try and put the main part of the picture in the middle. genius, i know.

wrong. my teacher informed us that actually, we should focus the CENTER of whatever we are taking a picture of at one of these spots (the orange dots)

not like in between. but like choose on of these spots, and pretend that is the CENTER.

interesting. I think that is what I will work on for my homework assignment, instead of his which was to experiment with f-stops in the dark. sounds weird. :) not too mention I have no idea how to change f-stops. whatevs.

7.) I am SO mad at Drew Brees and the New Orlean's Saints

You guys, this really happened.

we all rooted for this team. After Hurricane Katrina, they were the nice guys. The team we all wanted to win. and they did. the superbowl in fact.

and NOW?

one of the coaches is being charged with a bountyhunting ring. Like he would PAY his defensive players if they succeeded in hurting the other team.

$1500 for a knockout

$1,000 for a "cart-off"

sometimes these would double or triple in playoff games!

Apparently, before the 2009 NFC Division game, a player threw TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS on the table and said it was for whoever was victorious in knocking out opponent quarterback Brett Favre.

and THE HEAD COACH KNEW!

i am sure this goes on with other teams too, but for now, I can be disgusted with the Saints. Pssshhh. How LAME.

so yes. now you can see why I had my cardigan inside out last week at work.

lots going on ;)