Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

I DO! I DO!!!!

So it was a busy weekend of trivia (and travel).

On Friday, Matt and I were in Kansas City. By passing an online test, Matt had been invited down to audition for Jeopardy! He was nervous to try out and I was nervous to wait 2 hours in the hotel lobby for him. For his audition he took another 50 question test, interviewed with the contestant coordinators and then played a mock version of the game. Following the audition, Matt wasn't sure about how he did on the test, but felt very good about the interview and game play. He's now in the contestant pool for the next 18 months. He could be called any time between now and December 2010! When I auditioned, it was only 6 weeks before I was called to be on the show. So our fingers are crossed.

Yesterday, my friend Pete and I returned to Kansas City to audition for "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". We showed up at 6:30 in the morning at the Ameristar Casino to take the Millionaire test. There were 375 people in our testing group. We had to take a 30 question, multiple choice test that covered a lot of different topics. They also had us take a 30 question movie test for the Millionaire Movie Week.

Those of us that passed either test were then scheduled for interviews in the afternoon. I passed both tests and Pete passed the main test. There were two levels of interviews. The first one involved talking to one of three contestant coordinators. If they liked you, then you were sent on to the video interview. Pete and I both got to the video interview. Woohoo! We'll find out in 2 to 3 weeks if we will be placed in the contestant pool.

I think Pete has a really good shot at making it. From what he told me the interviewers loved him. I was asked a lot about being engaged. They are doing an engaged couples week on Millionaire and it wouldn't surprise me if they asked me and Matt to be on together. Again, crossing my fingers.

So that was my weekend. This morning it was back to the gym for a workout with Andy and then physical therapy on my left leg. Tomorrow it's spinning class! yeah!

The Proposal

Last night we went to see "The Proposal" and LOVED IT! The movie is that rare romantic-comedy where you actually believe the relationship between the leads. Both Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are sincere and funny as book editor and assistant who make an arrangement to get married so that Bullock's Canadian character can stay in the U.S.. The movie should really be a boost to Reynolds career (and he's absolutely adoreable!). The real treat in the movie is Betty White. She plays Reynolds' grandmother and is an absolute hoot!

The Ugly Truth

Matt and I have about 13 months until we get married. I've made it a goal to be in better shape by July 2010. For the past few weeks I've been going over to the Lied Rec Center at Iowa State to workout with my friend Andy.  Later this week we are going to set formal goals for each of us to shoot for.

Yesterday I had a small mole on my back removed and today I needed to remove the bandages that the doctor had applied. The mole was on a part of my back that was very difficult to reach and it took me a while to get the bandage off. In the course of twisting like a pretzel to remove the bandage, I had the opportunity to really look at my body. I didn't like what I saw.

I've been overweight my entire adult life. I realized that when we look at ourselves in the mirror, that we have have our own perspective and don't really see how they look. Today I saw how overweight I am. Over the next couple of days I'll be setting goals for myself for how I want my body to look like in one year.  

I've heard that if you repeat an activity every day for 2 to 3 weeks that it becomes habit. My first goal is to get my ass to Lied each morning to at least do cardio.  I want to keep doing that when school starts so that I get exercise before I go to school each morning.

A reminder of the day that changed my life

I went to the new Fareway grocery store tonight in north Ames.  It's much closer than the downtown store and a lot nicer.  As I was leaving the store, one look and one breath took me back 14 years in my life. I was taken back to a moment from which everything I have felt and experienced since has been built upon.

I was living in Tallahassee at the time and working as an assistant manager at a Sam Goody music store.  Our store was on the second floor and to take the trash out we had to walk down a long exterior balcony to the trash shoot.  One afternoon I had taken the trash out and was just standing on the balcony looking out over the forest area that surrounded the mall. It was early spring, the trees were a bright green (it was the south, they are ALWAYS green) and the humidity in the air was low.

Having graduated from Florida State the previous summer and not knowing what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I knew I needed to make a change.  On that balcony I just had a feeling that I was going to be going to somewhere in the midwest.  At the time I thought I'd be moving to somewhere in Kansas (don't ask me why).

A few weeks later my best friend from college called and asked me if I wanted to move up to Iowa with him and his fiance (her parents wouldn't let them live together and he needed a roommate).  It's a move I have never regretted.  I met the love of my life and have never been happier.

Tonight at Fareway, as I looked out I saw the trees and felt the air and was taken back to that day in Tallahassee when I knew I was meant to be in the midwest.  Gotta love sense memory.