Adventures in Northpark

Last night Adam and I went to the mall to do some shopping and on our way to the foodcourt we encountered the mace that was the talk on the news last night. We saw a stream of people coughing and trotting away from the court, but we thought they were just being silly. Adam said jokingly, "maybe we shouldn't go down here". As I walked ahead in warp Jessica speed I encountered an invisible fog of mace. I must have been tyring to breathe in the sugar and flour that the food court offered, since I knew I wouldn't be eating it with my diet, because I was immediately coughing and inwardly screaming "my eyes, my eyes!". The look on the non-coughers faces as they looked at the coughers was funny because they had this "what is going on?" look and then slowly the look of panic came over them as they too started coughing. Adam said, "it's mace!".

Adam only mildly inflicted with a burning throat bought me a drink so I could end the agony that is mace, which I drank nearly in full within 30 seconds. As we walked through the mall the coughing echoed upstairs and down as everyone moved away from the court. As we approached the complete other end of the mall I was surprised to find people coughing yet again. I knew we were one of the first to encounter the mace and to Adam's credit he was right in guessing that the ventilation system carried it to the other side. It was then my eyes burned again and the inside of my nose. It reminded me of last Christmas when Chandler and Adam opened a jar of habanero peppers we previously had for 3 years. I was not stupid enough to try them but someone was stupid enough to not be cafelful with the juice from the jar and it ended up on my steering wheel. It gave a whole new meaning to a burning stare, which I did give to those resposible. That stuff was so strong that even days after I couldn't put my fingers near my mouth or it would burn. Adam tested this by biting my nail so he can attest to its truth.

We ate in Ruby Tuesday's and watched as firemen and policmen entered (or infiltrated I should say) the mall. They stopped some teenagers (which I can only assume are the ones that were later arrested) from leaving, but we didn't see any real altercations. I felt so bad for people who worked in the food court or were eating there with children and there were all these cute dogs having their pictures made with Santa. The news said it wasn't normal mace, but something equivilent to police issue. That makes sense because even my lips were burning well after the incident. So there. That was our exciting adventure.

Hello, my name is Jessica and I am an Oprah fan.

There I admitted it. I tivo her show and watch is most days. While I don't agree with everything on the show and I have been known to change the channel to watch a rerun of Gilmore Girls, I would say I am an enthusiast fan. I am not a member of her book club and I have never read her magazine. I don't think I would cry upon her entrance if I were in the audience, but I do "impart" the knowledge I gain from watching the show to my friends and family. Last week, she had Drs. Oz and Roisen on the show talking about their new book "You on a Diet". A friend and I anxiously awaited the episode just knowing that it would be the answer to all our problems. It suggested that if you follow the plan (which is basically this: eat healthy and stop being such a pig) you will trim 2 inches off your waist and drop one size in 10 days. We immediately called Barnes and Noble to find out if they had the book. We waited too long to go get it and now no one is Jackson has it. Of course, I made my friend ask most of the people in the stores we visited because I was embarrassed. Why did my turn have to come in Lemuria Bookstore? They were nice (though I did hear some snickers from other customers) but I would have to say that I think I was the first person ever to request this book and mention that I saw it on Oprah. I sort of wispered it like I was in a pharmacy getting some sort of medicine filled for a fungus (which, by the way, I have NEVER had to do) They had one copy somewhere and the guy really tried to find it as we waited trying to look cool and pretend we were waiting on a book about modern art, but our cover was blown as the he yelled from the ladder that he was looking for a book on Oprah about a diet. We never found the book, but we dutifully shopped for no sugar added items and things without enriched flour. It is hard to find things like this in a box or can.

It has been three and a half days, and as promised, I am feeling more energetic. I still don't have the book and I am thinking I may not need it. How weird since last Thursday I just had to have it to go on living. I guess that is what thinking through your purchases does to you. I am happy to report that I have lost 6.5 pounds since Monday. I must have been consuming a very large amount of sugar before, because this seems like a larger amount that I would expect. No complaints though. I might not have said that on Monday when I was watching Oprah in the dark passed out on the couch from lack of sugar. It takes a few days to feel pretty good and I can only assume it gets better. I am still convinced that it does take some calorie watching even on this. To quote my friend, "We are on a diet but we are buying pizza, pasta, and chips?" (Harvest Wheat Digornio, Multi-grain Tostitos, and whole wheat pasta)

I will let you know how it goes. I did find a really cool site about healthy foods.

Jessica

First Tub Bath

We waited a while because our tub/shower doors are pretty inconvenient. This was taken at my mom's house.