Dear Self, Get It Together!

I am tired of being overweight I really am. Here it is Wednesday already and I haven’t been to the gym….yet. My goal is to get to the gym 3 days a week in the Sunday-Saturday range, so I’m still on track for that to happen. I took yesterday off, because, well just because; I needed a break from work. I’ve been working some overtime again to make some extra money. I did accomplish cleaning out my closets with all the junk that I don’t wear anymore with the plan of having a big ol yard sale in the spring. Is there such a thing as Winter cleaning? I’ve heard of Spring cleaning…but anyway. Yesterday A.Drama came over and helped me go through my closet and was very helpful in telling me things that were ugly and needed to go. (I bribed her to help with lunch and Reese’s, it wasn’t free of charge)

But back to work today and I had to come clean to ‘Jillian’ that I hadn’t been to the gym yet this week. She was less than impressed, even though I told her I had cleaned up my whole room. Her response and I quote “I guess maybe your clean house is your priority this year.  ;)  though I thought it was YOU.”  Ouch, and to add insult to injury she reminded me that I have a comfy warm gym to travel to while she ran outside yesterday morning in the negative weather.

So what’s my deal? After we got done cleaning yesterday it was about 5 and I was a little tired. I had the intention of taking a little nap, opps I slept until 9?!?! What the crap. I swear I have some sort of sleeping disorder and if it doesn’t exist I’m calling it the Rip Van Winkle. But none the less, enjoying sleep is not a great reason to not go to the gym. Once I’m at the gym I'm not angry or thinking I’m going to die or anything, so what’s the mental hold up here. I want to get fit, I have the time, I have the capability, I just can’t figure out what the holdup is. Is there some kind of underlying fear of failure? I’ve been watching The Biggest Loser and there is always something underlying causing the inability, I’m still trying to figure out mine I guess.

Have you ever had to overcome yourself to help get to a goal?

Just Not A Morning Person

I tried, for about a week to wake up early enough to work out in the morning. It just did not go well. I enjoy my sleep too much. But with a little "pep talk" from my friend Jillian (that's what I'm calling her because she is up to the task of the though love I need, just like Jillian Michaels) I've been to the gym three times this past week. I'm once again working on my couch to 5k app. Jillian keeps telling me to stick with it and by the end I will be able to actually be a runner. She also keeps telling me that runners come in all shapes and sizes. To keep me motivated she harps on me non stop, I will even try to hide from her if I didn't go to the gym, she turns the shame on...it works. She showed me her before and after pictures and all she did was start running and watch what she ate. Jillian is one of the crazy people who gets up at like 4am to go run. Maybe one day I'll be that crazy, don't hold your breath.

I finally got to try out my new running shoes that I had bought oh about a year ago when I last decided I was going to be a runner. I really hope I stick it out. I have 2 races coming up in April, a 5k and a 10k, then the Warrior Dash in June. There is also talk of a Hawaii trip in the fall, so I definitely want to be hula ready by then. It's like a 100some days until Summer too.... plenty of time to get in shape...right?

The gym is so much fun! Red face is hot and attractive right? May you all have a happy work out! Make sure you get your workout in... you don't want Jillian calling you up and yelling at you! 

5am Happened

I'll call it a small victory, and with the help of a morning person friend's text message. I was up and out of bed at 5am. I will confess I did think about going back to sleep but that is no way for change to occur. I went to the bathroom and threw water on my face and the lights on did help. As I walked back into my cozy bedroom it is pitch black in there, like a cave dark. No wonder it's hard to get up, I have created a perfect sleep space. So I threw on the light laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling for a bit, then went and did a morning yoga DVD.

I'm not 100% sure you are supposed to work up a sweat for yoga, but I did. It says for beginners not out of shapers, but I made it through.

I hope you enjoy this lovely Monday. Namaste.

A Morning Person I am Not... yet

This past week I have been on a quest, a quest to become a morning person. So far I have failed miserably. It's not for a lack of trying. I even moved my alarm clock all the way across the room in an effort to get my arse out of bed.

I have googled "How to become a morning person" several times, hoping for some assistance. They are kind of helpful I suppose. But one suggested I buy a $200 wake up light to help. While they look awesome and I do miss the morning sun, I can't justify $200 dollar for an alarm clock when I can't even get my cheap one to do its job. Alot of them say to sleep in your workout clothes to make it easier. And they keep saying don't hit the snooze button... oh well why didn't I think of that!? Um hello I wouldn't be googling this if I could stop hitting the button. I'm going to keep trying though, one day it will sink in.

I made this mistake of telling some co-workers about my secret covert operation. One of whom is already a morning runner and gets up like 4:30 AM! to run multiple miles!! As they asked about my progress and the excuses came flying out of my mouth even I was embarrassed and knew I was grasping at the bottom of the barrel for excuses and it was sad. I finally just stopped and said, I have no excuse. I don't have any excuses but I'm going to keep setting my alarm for 5:15 and hope that one day it just hits me and I get up and stay up.

But in some good news, my Weight Watchers journey is still going strong. I'm down 11.4lbs. Progress is progress no matter how slow. Although it's difficult at times that it's not coming off faster, at least it's coming off. I'm getting down to the zero barrier to get my butt in gear so I don't look like a donkey's ass at the races I have signed up for.

New Music

Ah music, is there anything better. Most days it's the only thing that gets me through the work day. You see I'm kind of secluded in the back of the room and it's kind of quiet and I don't get a whole lot of visitors, which is fine, I'm rather getting used to the quiet. The one thing my new location allows is me to get my headphones in and get lost in music. While I had my ear infection I didn't listen to my music and the days dragged and dragged.

In my Christmas stocking I got Fun's new CD, and I LOVE! You have probably heard their song "We are Young" which was on several commercials and their new song from their new CD "Some Nights" I can't stop listening to this CD, I recommend it highly.

I sometimes go back and forth between music genre's, it was in a big country mode for awhile. But my complaint with country music sometimes is the lack of new songs on the radio and they play the same songs over and over and over again, it gets really old. I do love me some country but sometimes the lovey dovey blah blah of the country songs makes me just want to shut it off. So I've been listening to today's hits a lot. I will say if I hear Rhianna's voice saying "shine bright like a diamond" I'm probably going to destroy the radio.

I'm not a huge fan of Pink and her party anthems but after hearing "Blow Me (one last kiss)" I've been impressed. With my iTunes gift card from Christmas I bought her new CD 'The Truth about Love' and I'm so glad I did! My favorite song that I can't get out of my head is 'Give Me a Reason' featuring none other that the lead singer for Fun! Perfect! The harmony is redic and the chorus is a total ear worm. There is also a song featuring Eminem, remember him? The real slim shady? It's another get stuck in your head song. 

Check out these CDs, I promise if you appreciate good music you won't be disappointed! :) 

Crash, Boom, Bang!

... also know as how we spent our New Years. Now that a few day's have passed and everything has been worked out and everyone is officially alright, here is the story of how we began 2013, in with a bang! 

Shortly before noon I get a call from NiBo frantic saying he just had an accident and wrecked his car.. it's pretty bad he said." Without hesitation I fly out the door still in my pj's and try to make my way towards where he was at. I wasn't speeding at all because the back roads were slick... but I still managed to go in the ditch and mess my car up too. 

Simon's first boo-boo

Thankfully NiBo is ok, just a little scraped up and sore, and a little bit of chemical burn from the airbag. The probe was not so lucky. Sadly we had to say goodbye to the '94 Ford Probe. Affectionately know as 'Herman' when he was mine, 'Taz' by A.Drama and NiBo knew him as 'Frank' short for Frankenstein (because at this point there were several swapped parts and nuts and bolts holding a few pieces together)

Herman came into our lives the fall before my 16th birthday, back in 2001. But this wasn't the first rodeo for Herman, back in 2004 he was totaled after a Jeep Cherokee got a probe in the rear-end (haha, get it?!) but with a few repairs he was back on the road. In 2007 when I upgraded the torch was passed to A.Drama, then on down the line to NiBo. 

My first accessory was a purple fuzzy steering wheel cover, which you can kinda see in the first picture. My upgrades to Herman included an upgraded bitchin' new stereo (it was a CD player, no need for a stock cassette) another convenience upgrade was a remote starter. I've never been lucky enough to have a garage so this feature came in very handy for several years. When I was in high school gas prices were not nearly as high as they are now and every Friday or Saturday night everyone would just cruise up and down main and make the loop. It's kinda sad that kids these days don't get to experience that. 

I have so many great memories of cruising main with my girlfriends blasting Backstreet boys and singing at the top of our lungs or stopping through McDonalds to get fries or through DQ to get a cone. Those days are gone and I basically just use my car now for travel back and forth to work, don't really have the leisure time money to spend just to go drive around and listen to music. It's kind of bittersweet losing the first car. But I'm glad Herman 'Frank' went out with his boots on and his legacy got to be experience by all my siblings. I chose good when I picked the shiny red Probe with the pop up headlights, that's badass when you're 16.

You were good to us Herman, may your belts never squeak and your oil never more leak. You will be missed (especially by NiBo since he is in a borrowed car now) Thank you for the great memories and may you enjoy that big parking garage in the sky! 

16 and can finally drive alone! February 8th, 2002

Cruisin' the town 

Herman weathered a good storm or two 

October 19, 2001 - January 1, 2013

The Giving Keys

I don't remember where I first came across The Giving Keys story. But when I heard about it, I knew it would be a perfect way to utilize my 2013 word, strength.

The Giving key story is this: 

"The Giving Keys exists to employ those transitioning out of homelessness to engrave recycled keys that get sold and shared around the world. Each key necklace is unique and carries a message like HOPE, STRENGTH, DREAM or COURAGE. When the wearer of the key encounters someone else who needs the message on the key, they give it away and then tell us their story."

What a fantastic idea! There are several word options to choose from, obviously I chose strength, but you can even choose a custom word. I love that the idea is to not keep the key but to pay it forward to someone else who needs the message on the key. 

I'm going to get my key all shined up and cleaned up before I wear it, I want it to be a shining example that with a little bit of effort even the most worn out can be brought back to life.

Dear End of Year Holidays

I've decided that I don't like holidays on Tuesdays. Why must this be? Thanksgiving always gets to be on a Thursday why can't we get Christmas and New Years moved to the weekend?! Ok ok, I guess those are kind of locked in dates. But I still don't have to like it.

I also feel like we need to spread these holidays out a little more. It's like BAM! Thanksgiving-November, Christmas-December, boom New Year-January. Our next day off isn't until Memorial Day-May. Holy hell that's depressing that means we have 5 months before we get another day off... bogus. Back to work tomorrow it is. Double depressing is a few of the older folk are throwing around the 'R' word... you know retirement. What will I do without their wise words of anti-encouragement to get me through the next FORTY or so years of working.... oh yikes. 40 more years.

I know I complain about my job and I do feel bad about it knowing that there are people trying to find a job out there. But it sucks the life out of me. But they say one day at a time right? But I really am thankful to have a job although I know sometimes it doesn't seem like it.

Happy day 1. 364 to go.