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	<title>A Merry Life - The Pursuit of Healthy &#38; Happy &#187; Merriness</title>
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	<link>http://amerrylife.com</link>
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		<title>I Tried Coffee! (Plus Friday Five)</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/04/13/i-tried-coffee-plus-friday-five/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/04/13/i-tried-coffee-plus-friday-five/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:13:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Merriness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7702</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m feeling awesome guys. Like full of awesome. And full of self confidence. I am awesome! So I tried coffee for the first time this week. I drank a cup of iced black coffee just to see what it was like consuming that much caffeine (I only drink water normally). It was INSANE. I felt <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/04/13/i-tried-coffee-plus-friday-five/#more-'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/04/13/i-tried-coffee-plus-friday-five/">I Tried Coffee! (Plus Friday Five)</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>I&#8217;m feeling awesome guys.</p>
<p>Like full of awesome. And full of self confidence. I am awesome!</p>
<p>So I tried coffee for the first time this week. I drank a cup of iced black coffee just to see what it was like consuming that much caffeine (I only drink water normally). It was INSANE. I felt so hyper and excited and couldn&#8217;t stop moving around for an hour. It was fun and I might keep drinking coffee just for that reason along with some others. I don&#8217;t totally love it but I&#8217;ve come a long way from my former coffee hating self who refused to drink it ever.</p>
<p>Coffee and awesomeness. That sums up my week pretty well. Now on to the 5 things&#8230;</p>
<h2><strong>One More Wedding Post</strong></h2>
<p>Here&#8217;s some wedding goodness if you missed it:</p>
<p class="entry-title"><a title="Permanent link to Wedding Recap: Things I Learned" rel="bookmark" href="http://amerrywife.com/wedding-recap-things-i-learned/">Wedding Recap: Things I Learned</a></p>
<p><img title="paper-yay-flags-mary-kepa.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/paper-yay-flags-mary-kepa.jpg" border="0" alt="Paper yay flags mary kepa" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<h2><strong>Two Things I Ate Today</strong></h2>
<p>1. Egg sandwich for breakfast.</p>
<p>2. Captain Crunch Berries for a snack. (I bought cereal! I rarely do this because I love and devour it. This was a special treat and I love it!)</p>
<h2><strong>Three Good Things From This Week</strong></h2>
<p>1. Kepa&#8217;s best friend&#8217;s birthday party is tomorrow! FUN! Good food, drinks, and company ahead for us this weekend.</p>
<p>2. I haven&#8217;t been in the gym but I&#8217;ve still be very active and felt great. I&#8217;ve rediscovered my love (or just nurtured it really) of doing things outside like hiking and biking.</p>
<p>3. Found a place to stay while I&#8217;m in Memphis, some transportation options, things to do, etc. Basically this week the trip all came together like it was meant to happen. Or at least that&#8217;s what the boss tells me since they&#8217;ve tried to talk me into moving back to the US since before I even left. ;) Still this week&#8217;s plan making eliminating a lot of anxiety and I&#8217;m feeling good about it.</p>
<h2><strong>Four Recent Thoughts About New Zealand</strong></h2>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"><strong>1. People don&#8217;t wear shoes sometimes</strong>. Okay, pretty often. I go to the grocery store and every single time see at least one if not ten people not wearing shoes in the stores. Weirds me out every time I see bare feet in the store while I&#8217;m buying groceries.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"><strong>2.  The sun burns. </strong>I get sunburned almost every day if I spend over 20 minutes outside. Even if just stay inside but sit too close to a window I get pink. With sunblock on. My pasty white skin does not do well in a country underneath a holy ozone layer.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"><strong>3. Easter was a big thing. </strong>I&#8217;m from the Bible Belt so I get stores and things closing on religious holidays and even on Sundays (I&#8217;m looking at you Chick Fil A). But it still surprises me that in New Zealand everything is closed on Easter AND Good Friday, or they have to pay the government extra money. But oh well, at least there were hot cross buns which are quite nice.<strong> People go crazy when stores are going to be closed for one day. </strong>The day before Good Friday and the day between it and Easter meant PACKED supermarkets. Everyone seemed to have the sudden need to shop even late at night (when we normally go) when it&#8217;s normally quite empty. This might be a phenomenon that happens everywhere if stores are closing but I&#8217;ve only just noticed it.</p>
<p><strong>4. There is a marmite shortage and people are upset.</strong> I don&#8217;t really understand the vegemite and marmite love. I think it tastes gross. But apparently the production got shut down because of earthquakes so stores are out and people are upset. The crazier ones are spending hundreds to thousands to get what is available. There was a radio commercial about &#8220;getting through&#8221; the shortage with support which I&#8217;m hoping was a joke.</p>
<h2><strong>Five Questions You Need To Answer</strong></h2>
<p>1. If you were in line at McDonald&#8217;s right now what would you order?</p>
<p>2. If you eat fast food, what is your favorite restaurant or item?</p>
<p>3. How big is your current living space? (Rooms/bathrooms or sq ft.)</p>
<p>4. What&#8217;s the one thing (not a person or a pet) you would try to save from your house in a natural disaster?</p>
<p>5. Have you ever/do you eat marmite or vegemite? Thoughts on it? Yummy or no?</p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"><strong>Have a great weekend! :)</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/04/13/i-tried-coffee-plus-friday-five/">I Tried Coffee! (Plus Friday Five)</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<slash:comments>41</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Another Friday Five MishMash</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/29/another-friday-five-mishmash/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/29/another-friday-five-mishmash/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:21:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Merriness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7652</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Woah. Today&#8217;s been a crazy day. Our internet has been wonky and SLOW because we used it all up this month too soon and that makes my work difficult since it&#8217;s 100% online. It&#8217;s been a tiring, trying day but doing this post will cheer me up I know it! One Thing I&#8217;m Thinking About <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/29/another-friday-five-mishmash/#more-'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/29/another-friday-five-mishmash/">Another Friday Five MishMash</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Woah. Today&#8217;s been a crazy day. Our internet has been wonky and SLOW because we used it all up this month too soon and that makes my work difficult since it&#8217;s 100% online. It&#8217;s been a tiring, trying day but doing this post will cheer me up I know it!</p>
<h2><strong>One Thing I&#8217;m Thinking About Buying</strong></h2>
<p>I&#8217;m thinking about buying a<strong> snowboard</strong>. If I can find one on TradeMe (site that is like Craigslist meets Ebay) I might get one before our snowboarding trip this winter. Visiting Snowplanet rekindled my love for snowboarding and woke me up to the fact that I live relatively close to mountains now (Memphis was so flat and so far away from them). I definitely plan to go multiple times while I live in New Zealand so getting a board and boots might be a good idea. I&#8217;ll think about it more but it&#8217;s been added to my &#8220;wish list&#8221; of eventual purchases.</p>
<p>Plus snowboarding is good exercise so I can count that as activity towards weight loss which makes a snowboard almost necessary. Right? ;)</p>
<h2><strong>Two New Wedding Posts You Should Read</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://amerrywife.com/details-wedding-food-drink/">Wedding Recap: Food &amp; Drink</a> &#8211; because our food was yummy!</p>
<p><img title="wedding dinner.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/wedding-dinner.jpg" border="0" alt="wedding food" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<p><a href="http://amerrywife.com/wedding-recap-what-went-wrong/">Wedding Recap: What Went Wrong</a> &#8211; because no wedding is ever perfect!</p>
<p><img title="wedding photobooth1.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/wedding-photobooth1.jpg" border="0" alt="wedding photobooth" width="500" height="332" /></p>
<h2><strong>Three Things On My Brain</strong></h2>
<p>1. Life is short. Yesterday I was listening to a podcast with a caller who had terminal cancer at 36. She said she hadn&#8217;t prepared for it because she didn&#8217;t expect it. What a reminder that life is short.</p>
<p>2. Sodium overload this week. I&#8217;ve consumed way too much sodium and I know it. I&#8217;ll post about this soon but for now all I can think about is whether my next meal is high in sodium and how I can lower it.</p>
<p>3. Measurements. At the gym I noticed in the mirror that my legs appeared smaller than they once were. I couldn&#8217;t tell if my judgement was accurate or not so I decided to check my measurements when I got home. Holy moly, I really have lost inches off my body in the last three months. It&#8217;s pretty exciting. In a couple days I&#8217;ll have my final LiveFit measurements to see!</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><strong>Four Awesome Things About This Week</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li>JuJu and I had a great week this week. She finally is starting to understand how to walk on a leash without pulling her excited little self all over. Also she now understands the word ball and will find her ball in the yard on command which is amusing. Smart doggy!</li>
<li>Dinner tonight is chicken enchilada casserole. I have no idea how to make this but the idea popped into my head last night and it sounded delicious.</li>
<li>I&#8217;m going ice skating tomorrow with a group of our friends here. Even better, today&#8217;s daily deal was for this exact activity so we are going to save half the cost. I used to dislike daily deal sites but lately they&#8217;ve been allowing us to get out and try things here without blowing our budget. I&#8217;ve only been ice skating a couple times before but it was somewhat fun so I&#8217;m looking forward to this!</li>
<li>A reader sent me a donation because his mom likes to read my blog. This rarely happens and I don&#8217;t ask for donations but it made my day. Thanks David and David&#8217;s mom!</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Five Questions For You</strong></h2>
<ol>
<li>What are you having for dinner next?</li>
<li>What is your favorite way to treat/pamper yourself?</li>
<li>Baths or showers? Which do you prefer?</li>
<li>What is your favorite/most trusted news website? Why?</li>
<li>Do you still read actual newspapers or just get news online?</li>
</ol>
<p>That&#8217;s it for me! I&#8217;m done fighting with this internet for now since I know I&#8217;ll have another couple days of slow speed to deal with.</p>
<p><strong>Enjoy your Friday and your weekend!</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/29/another-friday-five-mishmash/">Another Friday Five MishMash</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Exciting Friday Five</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/22/exciting-friday-five/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/22/exciting-friday-five/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:04:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Merriness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7630</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One Thing I&#8217;m EXCITED About Snowboarding. Tomorrow. It&#8217;s happening. (Side note: that&#8217;s my good friend Josh from high school. Last week he and his wife Lauren &#8211; another high school friend &#8211; welcomed their awesome little son into the world! I&#8217;m also very excited for that!) It&#8217;s been at least 3 years since I&#8217;ve been <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/22/exciting-friday-five/#more-'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/22/exciting-friday-five/">Exciting Friday Five</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><h2><strong>One Thing I&#8217;m EXCITED About</strong></h2>
<p>Snowboarding. Tomorrow. It&#8217;s happening.</p>
<p><img title="snowboard.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/snowboard.jpg" border="0" alt="Snowboard" width="500" height="400" /></p>
<p>(<em>Side note: that&#8217;s my good friend Josh from high school. Last week he and his wife Lauren &#8211; another high school friend &#8211; welcomed their awesome little son into the world! I&#8217;m also very excited for that!</em>)</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been at least 3 years since I&#8217;ve been on a mountain and that is a freaking tragedy. I love snowboarding so much. We aren&#8217;t going to a mountain this time, just an indoor snow thing. It will be a good chance for Kepa to learn since he has never been and it will just be a lot of fun for me to get back on a snowboard finally.</p>
<p>Thank goodness for daily deals sites that offer discounted day passes! Woohoo! I&#8217;m so excited I can&#8217;t wait!</p>
<h2><strong>Two Thoughts</strong></h2>
<p>One. It&#8217;s been a while since any sort of challenge type thing on the blog. Would anyone be interested in such a thing? Thinking of things I plan to do after the end of LiveFit.</p>
<p>Two. It took me too long to come up with a second thought. Sometimes when writing list type posts for the blog or work my mind goes blank and it takes me sooo long to come up with the next point. It&#8217;s a very acute case of writer&#8217;s block that is very annoying. So sometimes, like now, I just give up. Move along guys the rest of this post gets better!</p>
<h2><strong>Three Wedding Posts To Read</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://amerrywife.com/details-wedding-cake/">Details: Wedding Cake! (YUM!)</a></p>
<p><a href="http://amerrywife.com/details-wedding-cake/"><img title="mary_kepa_joined-782.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/mary_kepa_joined-782.jpg" border="0" alt="wedding cake" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>
<p class="entry-title"><a title="Permanent link to Details: Entry Details" rel="bookmark" href="http://amerrywife.com/details-entry-details/">Details: Entry Details</a></p>
<p><a href="http://amerrywife.com/details-entry-details/"><img title="mary_kepa_joined-181.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/mary_kepa_joined-181.jpg" border="0" alt="Mary kepa" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://amerrywife.com/details-hanging-photos/">Details: Hanging Photos</a></p>
<p><a href="http://amerrywife.com/details-hanging-photos/"><img title="mary_kepa_joined-583.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/mary_kepa_joined-583.jpg" border="0" alt="Mary kepa photos" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><strong>Four Awesome Things About This Week</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">We are going snowboarding tomorrow! Need I say more?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">Feeling very good in my body and loving the circuit training + cardio workouts this week.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">Found out I won&#8217;t owe taxes this year like I thought I might. Yay for keeping my money!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">Created a new header for the blog. I like it and it feels more me. It gives a better idea about what the blog is about. Thoughts?</span></li>
</ul>
<h2 style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: medium;"><strong style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: medium;"><strong style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 18px;">Five Questions</strong></span></strong></span></h2>
<p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">I have five questions for YOU. Please answer in the comments to give me some fun learn about my readers material&#8230; I really enjoyed it last week! I&#8217;ll answer too. :)</p>
<ol style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">
<li>Do you snowboard or ski? Or neither?</li>
<li>Hot weather or cold weather &#8211; which do you prefer?</li>
<li>At what age did you learn to swim? (If you can that is. If you can&#8217;t, do you plan on learning?)</li>
<li>What&#8217;s the first healthy living or weight loss blog you ever read?</li>
<li>What was the last or next movie you will see in theaters?</li>
</ol>
<p>My answers:</p>
<ol>
<li><em>Snowboard. </em></li>
<li><em>Cold weather though I&#8217;m more used to hot.</em></li>
<li><em>It&#8217;s hard to remember but I think I was around 10 when I took lessons properly but I&#8217;d gone to the beach and pools for years before that. My mom will probably correct me if I&#8217;m wrong. ;</em>)</li>
<li><em>The first one I remember coming across was Roni&#8217;s Weigh!</em></li>
<li><em>I&#8217;m going to see The Hunger Games movie on Sunday!</em></li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Happily awaiting your answers my friends. Until then, have a lovely weekend!</strong></p>
<ol style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"> </ol>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/22/exciting-friday-five/">Exciting Friday Five</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Friday Five</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/15/friday-five-6/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/15/friday-five-6/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:58:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Merriness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7604</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One Happy Dog JuJu is loving this week as the spoiled puppy that she is. Mostly she gets to lay around on her bean bag and sleep whenever she wants (which is still a lot despite her crazy puppy energy during other hours). But this week I&#8217;ve played extra games of fetch with her, bought <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/15/friday-five-6/#more-'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/15/friday-five-6/">Friday Five</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><h2><strong>One Happy Dog</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2011/12/12/meet-juju/">JuJu</a> is loving this week as the spoiled puppy that she is.</p>
<p><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2011/12/12/meet-juju/"><img title="juju.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/juju.jpg" border="0" alt="Juju" width="500" height="375" /></a></p>
<p>Mostly she gets to lay around on her bean bag and sleep whenever she wants (which is still a lot despite her crazy puppy energy during other hours). But this week I&#8217;ve played extra games of fetch with her, bought a better dog food brand she seems to like better, and bought her a new toy she is currently obsessed with. Life is good for little JuJu.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><strong>Two Books</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439023521/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ameli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0439023521"><img title="main-pr-hunger-games.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/main-pr-hunger-games.jpg" border="0" alt="hunger games" width="500" height="375" /></a></p>
<p>I read two books this week: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439023521/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ameli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0439023521">The Hunger Games</a> and then the second book in the seriesCatching Fire. I read each in less than a day (er, like 6 hours straight). I see why people love this series and can&#8217;t wait for the movies &#8211; it&#8217;s good. I was so wrapped up in the second book that when it ended and I had no way to get the third book immediately I caved and went online to find out how the story ends. I&#8217;ve never done that before but I just could not wait until I could get the third book.</p>
<h2><strong>Three Days of Low Carb Eating</strong></h2>
<p>So far I&#8217;ve completed 3 days of low carb eating and one day of high carb eating this week. Today is another low carb day so I&#8217;m trying to stay on point. It seems like I&#8217;m getting it down to around 120-150 g of carbs easily but anything more takes serious work. Even that though is really low for me as I know previously my carb intake was about double that.</p>
<h2><strong>Four Awesome Things About This Week</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Good friend&#8217;s birthday party tomorrow! Really looking forward to Cambodian food and drinks. </li>
<li>I had time to read this and thoroughly enjoyed everything I read.</li>
<li>Actually made it through all my workouts so far and am on schedule!</li>
<li>Started wearing <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/12/new-laces-pink-new-reads-overcoming-overeating/">my new pink laces</a>! :)</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Five Questions </strong></h2>
<p>I have five questions for YOU. Please answer in the comments to give me some fun learn about my readers material. I&#8217;ll answer in the comments too. :)</p>
<ol>
<li>What website do you visit the most? </li>
<li>Where did you eat out at last?</li>
<li>If you were given $100 right now what would you do with it?</li>
<li>What is your favorite flavor? (Any flavor&#8230; savory or sweet.)</li>
<li>Do you like your initials? </li>
</ol>
<p>That&#8217;s all for me! I&#8217;m off to the gym. :) <strong>Have a great weekend!</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/15/friday-five-6/">Friday Five</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<title>Friday Five, Oh Right, That.</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/01/friday-five-oh-right-that/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/01/friday-five-oh-right-that/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:45:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Merriness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7545</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m sitting here trying to think of something to write and it is hard. It&#8217;s hard because I&#8217;m TIRED. I&#8217;m tired because I keep kicking my own butt with these LiveFit workouts. So instead of trying to come up with a deep or serious or controversial post I&#8217;m going back to teh old Friday Five <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/01/friday-five-oh-right-that/#more-'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/01/friday-five-oh-right-that/">Friday Five, Oh Right, That.</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>I&#8217;m sitting here trying to think of something to write and it is hard. It&#8217;s hard because I&#8217;m TIRED.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m tired because I keep kicking my own butt with these LiveFit workouts.</p>
<p>So instead of trying to come up with a deep or serious or controversial post I&#8217;m going back to teh old Friday Five standby.</p>
<p><strong>It has come to this.</strong></p>
<p>If you are wondering why I said that ^, look at this:</p>
<p><img title="come to this.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/come-to-this.jpg" border="0" alt="Come to this" width="270" height="408" /></p>
<p>Haha. From <a href="http://xkcd.com/1022/">xkcd</a>.</p>
<h2><strong>Friday Five</strong></h2>
<p><strong>Five Things That Made This Week Awesome</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Starting phase 3 workouts in LiveFit Trainer.</li>
<li>This <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/29/march-2012-weigh-in/">weigh in</a>.</li>
<li>Feeling like a badass walking into the gym, not just when I walk out.</li>
<li>Phone calls my mom, brothers, and best friends.</li>
<li>Lots of general good feelings and happiness. :)</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Five Things That Will Make The Weekend Awesome</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>We are going to <em>another</em> rugby game!</li>
<li>Dinner at a yummy Chinese place with Kep&#8217;s bff and his girlfriend.</li>
<li>Long walk with JuJu and Kepa at the park.</li>
<li>Watching my friend Tai&#8217;s marching competition.</li>
<li>No work, limited blogging, lots of relaxing!</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Five Things I Need To Do</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Research how to teach JuJu to stop barking.</li>
<li>Convert my drivers license to a NZ license.</li>
<li>Apply for a new passport with my new name.</li>
<li>Pay my accountant who is doing my taxes.</li>
<li>Find a second job for my free time!</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Five Recipes I Want To Make</strong></p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://iowagirleats.com/2012/03/01/chick-fil-a-bites-with-honey-mustard-dipping-sauce/">Chick-Fil-A Bites</a> (Iowa Girl Eats) </li>
<li><a href="http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/01/caramelized-chicken-with-jalapeno-cream/">Caramelized Chicken with Jalapeno Cream</a> (How Sweet Eats)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/08/recipe-for-grilled-zucchini-pizza.html">Grilled Zucchini Pizza</a> (Kalyn&#8217;s Kitchen)</li>
<li><a href="http://thenoshery.com/2009/03/29/a-two-bite-breakfast/">Bacon and Egg in Toast Cups</a> (The Noshery)</li>
<li><a href="http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/08/25/low-calorie-peanut-butter-ice-cream/">Low Cal Peanut Butter Ice Cream</a> (Chocolate Covered Katie)</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Five Things You Should Do</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Hug someone you love.</li>
<li>Go do something active for at least ten minutes.</li>
<li>Drink a glass of water.</li>
<li>Leave me a comment.</li>
<li>Have an amazing day! </li>
</ol>
<p>I&#8217;m off to start what will no doubt be another great weekend. <strong>Enjoy yours!</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/03/01/friday-five-oh-right-that/">Friday Five, Oh Right, That.</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<title>Bad JuJu</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/23/bad-juju/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/23/bad-juju/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:11:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[JuJu]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7492</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wondering why I didn&#8217;t post yesterday? Blame JuJu. While she looks all innocent and cute in photos, she is on a destructive streak this week. She chewed through my macbook power cord&#8230; TWICE. Yesterday was the second time. It&#8217;s amazing how much damage she can cause when I leave the room for two minutes. She <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/23/bad-juju/#more-'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/23/bad-juju/">Bad JuJu</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Wondering why I didn&#8217;t post yesterday?</p>
<p>Blame JuJu.</p>
<p><img title="bad juju.JPG" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/bad-juju.jpg" border="0" alt="bad juju" width="500" height="375" /></p>
<p>While she looks all innocent and cute in photos, she is on a destructive streak this week. She chewed through my macbook power cord&#8230; TWICE. Yesterday was the second time. It&#8217;s amazing how much damage she can cause when I leave the room for two minutes. She tricks me because she is sleeping when I leave and chewing when I come back.</p>
<p>Yesterday she cut the power to my computer and I had to wait to get a replacement. During the wait I decided to take a long nap to forget my worries. That&#8217;s a decent replacement for blogging, right?</p>
<p><strong>Bad JuJu! </strong></p>
<p>(I totally didn&#8217;t get that connection with her name + bad until a friend posted it jokingly on my Facebook wall. Ha.)</p>
<p>This weekend ends the ban on JuJu running free in the world. She has had all her shots and is protected from catching nasty things like parvo so we are going to embark on the adventure of socialization and walks. I&#8217;m meeting a reader (yay) this weekend so JuJu can meet another dog and go on a walk. So far she has been terrified of other dogs including tiny little ones.</p>
<p>After this weekend the plan is to walk JuJu daily or twice a day if we can swing it. She is super high energy and needs to start going on walks to burn off some of that crazy energy. Last week we took her on her first one mile walk just as a test and it went well. I can see a lot of fun long walks in our future.</p>
<p>I know that walking JuJu a mile or two a day is also going to provide benefits to me and Kepa. I was at my lowest weight ever (around 200 or just under it) when I was in Europe walking everywhere. I ate horribly and consumed more sweets and beer than ever but I lost a ton of weight just by walking so much. So JuJu will be my little helper as I keep dropping the pounds. She might ruin expensive cords and shoes but at least she is going to be my workout buddy!</p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/23/bad-juju/">Bad JuJu</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<title>Happy Valentine&#8217;s Day!</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/13/happy-valentines-day-3/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/13/happy-valentines-day-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:04:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Merriness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7408</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If only Valentine&#8217;s Day were an actual holiday where you didn&#8217;t have to work or do normal chores! My &#8220;holiday&#8221; today wasn&#8217;t that exciting. It was actually like almost any other day: Work for 8 hours on lots of different things (I like that my job is always something different)&#8230;. Workout at the gym until <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/13/happy-valentines-day-3/#more-'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/13/happy-valentines-day-3/">Happy Valentine&#8217;s Day!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>If only Valentine&#8217;s Day were an actual holiday where you didn&#8217;t have to work or do normal chores!</p>
<p>My &#8220;holiday&#8221; today wasn&#8217;t that exciting. It was actually like almost any other day:</p>
<p>Work for 8 hours on lots of different things (I like that my job is always something different)&#8230;.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_0665.JPG" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/IMG_06651.jpg" border="0" alt="amerrylife.com work" width="500" height="375" /></p>
<p>Workout at the gym until my legs quit because I stupidly did extra deadlifts yesterday&#8230;.</p>
<p><img title="amerrylifeworkout.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/amerrylifeworkout.jpg" border="0" alt="amerrylife.com workout" width="400" height="533" /></p>
<p>Try to stop JuJu from destroying things&#8230;</p>
<p><img title="juju rolling pin.JPG" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/juju-rolling-pin.jpg" border="0" alt="amerrylife juju rolling pin" width="500" height="374" /></p>
<p>Running errands like taking JuJu to her last vet appointment and going grocery shopping to restock our sadly depleted kitchen.</p>
<p>Yep. That&#8217;s pretty much a summary of my day and most of my days. I could never be a professional blogger if the content relied on my daily activities. Yawn.</p>
<p><strong>Things that are different about today:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>I got a card from my awesome husband!<img title="valentinescard.JPG" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/valentinescard.jpg" border="0" alt="amerrylife.com card" width="500" height="375" /></li>
<li>We are getting pizza for dinner! We basically never eat out during the week except for special occasions like holidays and birthdays. Valentine&#8217;s Day is sort of a holiday, right? </li>
<li>I&#8217;m turning off the computer after this post and staying off for the night. my bad habit of always being online won&#8217;t ruin Valentine&#8217;s Day!</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Hope you all have a great Valentine&#8217;s day whether you are single or with someone you love (both can be fun, promise)!</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/13/happy-valentines-day-3/">Happy Valentine&#8217;s Day!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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