Evening, friends! I like what a lot of you mentioned in response to my last post about getting thoughts out on paper to help not over-thinking about them at night. I could benefit from that since my mind goes into overdrive if I don’t fall back asleep within 15 minutes. Also, I want to say that what I mentioned about HLS is not definitive. It was only through correspondence with Caitlin. She mentioned it wouldn't be likely and not to depend on it. I imagine things could change, so please don't go spreading word that I told you there will be no HLS or anything like that. Kay?

But, you know something? None of my lists nor my lack of sleep nor blog conferences feel very consequential right now. We got news earlier that Peter’s grandmother is not doing very well. She has been pretty ill for awhile now, but things apparently took a turn for the worse today as her kidneys started failing, among other issues. While I don’t know his grandmother very well, it pains me to see Peter’s hurt and to consider that M has never had the chance to meet her. They live in New York and we never made it up there to visit. It reminds me of how short life truly is and that we really can’t take things for granted. Cliché, but the truth.

I adore that poster. I want one for my refrigerator. For the remainder of my post, I will stick with the Q + A. I went through and picked out one of the more fun ones to pick up the mood of the afternoon.

How did you and your husband meet? What did you do on your first date?

It all started at a wine night with a group of girlfriends. I felt frustrated by men, namely the on/off ex of 8 years, which led to me going off to my friend wondering why she would want to get married. I actually expected to go through life in a never-ending drama cycle with the ex. I vowed that I never wanted to get married because the only man I would marry couldn’t exist. I then proceeded to list out the many qualities of the only man I would consider marrying trying to prove my point. My other friend turned to me and said “I KNOW HIM!!” From that point on she felt determined we were perfect for each other and strategized ways to get us to meet. Here’s a picture from the night that started it all…

For her 23rd birthday party, she knew I would be there ready to go out for a night on the town. I later learned she begged Peter over the phone to come out with us, even going so far as to fake cry. The rest of the guests were all coupled off, so Peter & I ended up hanging out together most of the night. The rest is history.

We went on our first date the following week. Spent the entire next few weekends together doing things like hikes, the pool, dinners, and movies. Then, I went to Europe for 2 months. I left thinking, eh this thing is no big deal mainly as a defense mechanism because I thought it was too good to be true. About halfway through my trip, I missed him like CRAZY and really started to fall hard. He felt the same way. We said “I love you” the day after I got back, were engaged three months after that, and married only 13 months after meeting. And I wouldn’t change a thing. This is from the day M was born…

Wow. That did make me feel a lot better. I’m all smiley now. 🙂 I hope you all have a wonderful night!

• Have you ever been set up or on a blind date? Or give me a happy love story or a dating horror story if not.
• Don’t forget to ASK ME ANYTHING if you want to get a question answered for the November Q + A series!

I have a weakness for lists. I fill my share of notebooks each year with lists – daily to-do lists, grocery lists, bigger project lists, pros and cons lists, workout plan lists, guest lists, blogging lists. If it can be listed out, you better believe I have it in my hand dandy notebook. Like this guy, only less creepy.

Is Blue’s Clues even still on? I hated having to watch that show with the kids I babysat back in the day. Moving on.

Yesterday, I was the queen of lists. I created a list of things to do before baby B arrives. You know, instead of actually starting to organize. I have to be sure Peter has a honey-do list ready before I go out of town. You know, next weekend.

As you can tell, I love my lists. I do not love when they keep me up at night, however. I woke up quite a few times last night from feeling uncomfortable. I would have trouble falling back asleep thanks to the discomfort…and then my mind would start working out its lists. We all know how that ends.

I’ve been up since before 4 am and now have a list of things to do this weekend when I have the most spare time I have had in weeks. That list is ridiculously funny. I will bow to myself if I can manage to finish it all. I also have a list of pros and cons for blogging conferences. Yes, I’m still thinking about them. Especially after I learned from Caitlin that there likely will not be a HLS 2011. Not definitely not, but likely not. So, I created something like this in my head at about 3:42 am.

Let’s just say I’m *thisclose* to registering for FitBloggin right now and still tempted to do BlogHer as well. Heck, my crazy mind got into thinking about pursuing sponsorships and other things by 4:18 am. This is what happens when I can’t sleep.

Along with foregoing Power class in favor of some easy cardio on machines. I haven’t done cardio on machines in at least 6 months. How crazy. I actually like using machines, but only if I’m doing some sort of intervals or a workout to make it more interesting. Just low intensity, steady state on the treadmill, elliptical, or stepmill? Not a huge fan. Since I didn’t think my body could handle Power today and weather conditions did not allow for a walk on the trail, I made due with machines.

I nabbed a spare magazine and hit up 20 minutes each incline walking on the treadmill and la-di-da-ing on the elliptical. It did the job. Now, to wait out the next 1.5 weeks until I can always go in the afternoon. I did my workout in the afternoon yesterday and loved it! Unfortunately, our previous commitments won’t let me do that every workout for another 1.5 weeks. Bummer.

I will be back later with today’s Q + A and my regular nightly post. Have a great Hump Day! 😀

• Do you like cardio machines for workouts? Which ones? What types of workouts do you do on them?
• What types of things keep you up at night?