Haven't posted on here in forever, yadda yadda yadda. Haven't felt like it...

Moving on...

So last night, Mike and I grabbed dinner at Panera. Had a nice chat over our meal. Went back out to get into the car and drive home. I saw a bill on the ground and picked it up, thinking, "Ooh, a dollar... NICE!"

But it wasn't $1. It was a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL!

Shaking, bill still in my hand, I got into the driver's seat. Showed it to Mike. There was nobody else in the parking lot and the parking lot we were in was only for Panera, so it had to have been a Panera customer who dropped it.

"What should I do?" I asked Mike, already knowing the answer.

"You can't keep it," he said. "You should take it in and leave it with them in case somebody comes back for it."

I sat there for a moment, turning it over and over in my hand. Thinking about the things I could buy with it. But the money wasn't mine, and even though I found it, I didn't feel it was mine to keep. If it had been a $1 or a $10 bill, I would have kept it. But $100 is the amount of money somebody might come back for, so I had to take it back into the place and leave it in case they did.

I went back inside and asked for the manager. Not that I didn't trust the person behind the counter, but somehow a manager seemed most trustworthy to me, and if I was going to do the right thing and take the money back, I wanted it to be done right. I asked if they had a lost and found. The manager said no, why, did I lose something. I said, "No, I found something." And held up the $100 bill.

The place was practically empty as it was getting close to closing time, and a number of folks who worked there saw what was going on and started commenting. "You should keep it!" multiple people said to me.

"I can't. It's not mine to keep. Besides what if somebody comes back for it!"

The manager said he didn't really have any place to safely keep it. Did I want to put it in the donation box that is bolted to the counter near the cash registers that collects money for a hunger charity? That seemed like a logical thing to do if he couldn't keep the money in case the person who lost it came back. So that is what I did.

I left there feeling great for having done that, even though the folks in the place were still telling me I should have kept it. "Major karma points for me!" I said, laughing as I left.

So I made a nice deposit in the karma bank last night.

If you found $100 in a parking lot with nobody else around, what would you do? Honestly? Do you think I did the right thing? (I think I did, but am curious to hear what others think.)

In late May, I blogged about how getting on the scale was a huge mistake. I hereby eat those words. I've been regularly weighing myself since, and I've lost almost 15 pounds since that day. (I'm at 14 lost since then.) I ran into my next-door neighbor earlier, who noticed immediately and commented on it (I hadn't seen her in a while since they had been away for much of July). I can totally fit into all of my old clothes, even the smallest pants and jeans. The few pairs of pants that didn't fit back then do fit now. I haven't been this slim since 2003.

My goal these days is to maybe lose a few more pounds. If I don't, so be it.... my original goal was to get back into my skinniest jeans, and I reached that goal a few weeks ago. Now I'm just exercising to get into better shape, not to lose weight. I've been walking a lot lately (4-5 times a week for an hour or so per outing) and feeling pretty great. It took me a year to get to this point, but I feel better for not having caved in and done all kinds of fad diets. I have changed my eating habits long-term, which is what I had hoped to do.

Within the past few months, Mike and I have been eating a lot more organic foods and staying away from anything processed (in other words, shopping the perimeter of the store -- not the inside aisles). We've gotten into the habit of going to Whole Foods as much as possible and we love it. I get excited when we go there (it's about 20 minutes away from our house).

Perhaps the biggest change we made was one that was suggested to Mike by a friend of his: eating for our blood types. Without going into too much detail (you can read a lot about it at the link I just included), we've both been following the diet for a while now (me since early June, Mike since early May). We've both noticed huge differences in our overall health and energy levels, and we've both lost weight on the diet (I attribute the last 14 pounds that came off to that diet, although I didn't go on it to lose weight -- I went on it to help my overall health).

I lost that weight without counting calories... the only thing I pay attention to is what is on my beneficial list, what is on my neutral list, and what is on my avoid list. (Obviously, I don't eat crazy huge portions, but I don't walk around hungry ever.) I have cut out virtually of my "avoid" items (although there are a few things that I am finishing up that I had in the house -- wasn't going to throw away good food). I still have to decide how much meat I want to reintroduce into my diet (I've been primarily vegetarian for about 15 years now).

I cannot recommend this way of eating highly enough. As I said, both Mike and I have noticed huge improvements in how we feel (not that either of us felt bad when we started, but I have way more energy, I sleep better, my allergies have gotten MUCH better, etc.), and his brother and some friends of his also have noticed huge improvements as well. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it work for others and experienced it myself. If you are looking to lose weight and/or deal with health problems, this might be a really, really smart thing to try. I intend to keep eating like this for the rest of my life! This isn't a fad diet and you won't feel deprived of good things (even though a number of foods I liked were on the list of things I had to "avoid," the only thing I find myself missing actively is peanut butter). Consider it a lifestyle and health-style change!

If you try it, let me know how you like it and how it has worked for you. It's one of the best decisions I've made in a long time.

Yes, I've been remiss in posting here. I know that. Don't feel particularly guilty about it either, so you won't be seeing any public apologies here for said lapse, no sirree, Bob. (Who IS Bob in that last sentence? I have no idea where that saying comes from, but when one says "no sirree," "Bob" always seems to follow, right?)

Been so busy with work. Been actually using my free time to do things like relax, read a book, watch TV, etc. Once one gets into the habit of actually using one's free time (albeit pretty limited, but still) for endeavors such as those, well, blogging doesn't really even OCCUR to me. I don't get these little, "Hmmmm, you should be blogging thoughts." Which made me contemplate just letting my blog go away. This line of thinking lasted maybe a week tops. But then I realized I would miss it. So it's staying. Although I'm kinda thinking I may be the only one reading this since I haven't posted in so long... Not that there's anything wrong with that...

So... busy girl, busy girl. Saw some great shows (Rush, Petty/Winwood, Eddie Izzard) and have more coming (Ricky Gervais, Styx/Boston, Bruce Springsteen [7th row, bay-bee... still don't know how we lucked into those tickets on the evil Ticketmaster, either]), Mark Knopfler... Mostly just trying to keep my head above the day job water. And stuff...

Hello, hello! Am back home after a week away... visited my parents and worked from their house while Mike took some vacation time off. We also spent a day up in Toronto while we were out that way, and it was a rather whirlwind whoosh north of the border capped off by a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Which was actually really, really cool. I didn't even try to catch up with any digi pals up that way geographically because a) we were in town for like 24 hours, and b) said 24 hours were an early anniversary getaway and the time we were spending together was meant to be just the two of us. Maybe next time we'll be up there a wee bit longer!

Working from my parents' house does have its perks -- in between work tasks, I did manage to take a jaunt or two with mom to do some shopping... As my own boss, as long as I get the work done, I do allow myself the occasional fun and frivolity during the work day. Heck, I always work through lunch, so it all evens out in the wash. Also went to the cemetery to visit my grandparents and left them a lovely geranium plant. And I didn't cry this time. I felt sad, but there were no tears. Still miss them every single day, though, and it's hard to visit that neck of the woods without feeling their absence more profoundly/deeply.

Besides that, not much else is shaking around here. Mike and I are going to see Tom Petty and Steve Winwood tomorrow night -- feels like we bought those tickets EONS ago.

And I'm a busy bee house cleaning this week as my brother and his posse are visiting this weekend. Had to put away some of the fragile items in my living room. My nephews are respectful of things and if you tell them not to touch stuff they won't, but accidents can happen, so I put anything of sentimental value that was the least bit breakable in a box out in the garage... My house is officially nephew-proofed. Can't wait to see everyone!

Today is the 20-year anniversary of the day I met my husband, Mike. An auspicious occasion, to be sure, although neither one of us knew at the time how much of one it would be for both of us long-term, per se. I was dating someone else and we were just friends for a number of years before I broke up with the other guy and Mike and I started dating in 1991. But today... today is special. Because we met. And because we liked each other enough to be friends and hang out and do stuff together as friends. Until we became more.

Here's to 20 years... almost half my life. I'm so glad I met you, Mike! And thanks for letting me make various.... errr... mix tapes from your CDs.