Jeff and I are fine again.  He's just been extremely busy and stressed with his work trip coming up and interviewing for a new job. The company he interviewed with really likes him, and he has a 2nd interview on Monday.  The office is downtown (where I work as well) and he won't be able to work from home anymore, but the thought of him working near me is exciting. I could see us meeting for lunch and whatnot.  Another coincidence is that his new office would be on the 11th floor and my office is also on the 11th floor (but in different buildings). If he gets a job at the new company, he thinks he will definitely be able to go on a honeymoon right after the wedding. One of the reasons he told the new company that he is looking for a new job, is the fact that his current co. won't let him take a week off for his honeymoon.  ( I just believe that everyone deserves the freedom to choose their vacation days, especially when your vacation is not during the holidays, there's no excuse for him not to get a week off).

I went jogging this morning at the park I go to just about every Sunday.  Last Thursday morning, between 6-6:30 am (when it was still dark out) a 19 yr old woman was raped while jogging around this park.  Apparently, some drunk black man came up behind her and she jogged away from him, but then he chased her and pinned her down and raped her.  (He hasn't been caught either). Horrifying.  It pisses me off that things like that happen. I don't jog in the dark for that very reason, but I almost always jog alone.  I make sure to always have my cell phone with me when I'm jogging though, just in case of emergency. As I was jogging today, I noticed that the older white male joggers all smiled at me as I passed. I like to think that they were proud of me, that I didn't let the fact that a rapist was in the area, discourage me from getting out and exercising. You can't let the criminals win. At both of the parks I jog at, I've had my car broken into.  I still jog, just make sure and put my purse in the trunk before I get to the park.  You have to keep doing what you're doing, but take the necessary precautions.

We had a substitute priest at mass today.  He was a little lost and at one point had to stop mass because there was no consecrated host, and so the server went and got one out of the sacristy.  I think our normal priest's aunt died.  Hope he will be back by Ash Wednesday.  For Lent, I am giving up pop (or soda if that's what you call it). I have a can of Diet Dr. Pepper everyday.  And yes, I know everyone tries to tell me that Diet pop is almost just as bad as regular pop, but I think that's baloney.  But I should drink more water and tea, and that's what I'll be doing during Lent.  Jeff is giving up coffee. He's obsessed with coffee, so it'll be interesting to see how he fares with that. I also want to say the Rosary everyday (something I generally do while driving to and from work anyway) and also read the daily mass readings in the missal.

Jeff is going to help me boil some eggs this evening. I seriously suck at boiling eggs and want to make egg salad for sandwiches this week. Everytime I try to boil eggs, the shells are near impossible to peel off.  I'm going to also cook pork tenderloin and rice and I hope Jeff likes it. I think it will be the first time I've ever cooked for Jeff, as horrible as that sounds.

I think my cousin Ashley likes Jeff. We had a nice meeting yesterday.  She dropped by my house, and my sister and her kids also came over, so Ashley got to see all of us.  Her wedding was completely different than mine and so it was hard for her to offer suggestions. Her caterer was provided with her venue and her florist was from OKC. She thinks my plans sound fine and make sense considering the reception will probably start around 4pm.  She did recommend buying flowers in bulk from Sams Club, to save money on centerpieces, and said she'd help me assemble centerpieces once I figure out what I want.  So that's good. 

Tamara was complaining about gaining weight and Ashley recommended P90X.  My cousin Ashley has never been overweight, she probably weighs 110 lbs and is 5'2'', but she did P90X before her wedding and had to stop because she was losing too much weight and her dress wouldn't fit her anymore. My sister Tamara is 200 lbs and would like to get down to 160 by my wedding. Is that doable in 6 months, I don't know.  But I told her I'd get the P90X DVDs and we'd start following the diet and make a real effort to lose weight and get toned for the wedding. Jeff  ordered the DVDs today and I should get them in a week.  He's going to copy the DVDs so both Tamara and I will have a full set.  The thing about my sister is that it's very hard for her to exercise and eat right without having other people to be accountable to and other people who are doing the same thing.  I'll have to be my sister's rock and encouragement to lose weight, and yes, it will be exciting for me to hopefully gain muscle and get toned for summer and bikini season.