Becoming a Masochist

Not what you're thinking! Dirty minds.... ;)

So a couple months ago I decided I needed to be nicer to my body. So I chucked out all my processed stuff, loaded my diet with mostly produce, and bought a gym membership. At about the same time my friend bought P90x, which I was a little jealous about because I hear it's the best way to get in shape.

So to make a long story short, I started doing it with his mom. That's right, I'm doing P90x with a 65 yr old woman, and she rocks it! Basically it works on the philosophy of muscle confusion. It changes your workout everyday, and then changes that every 3 weeks so that your body never gets used to what you're doing, which means you never hit a plateau. And if you follow the workout and the nutrition plan exactly, you'll have your dream body in 90 days.

Now I'm already eating pretty healthy, and I'm not so worried about having my dream "beachbody," I just want to be as healthy as I can be. With that being said, after 16 days of the most intense workout I've ever done in my life, I'm completely addicted. It's a 100% love/hate relationship. I dread it as much as I look forward to it, and while I'm doing it I want to cry as much as I want to do one more rep.

And the best part? It's getting easier! Plus I'm still sore after every workout, which means it's working. And when I'm done I feel more proud of myself than I've ever been. Ever. My life is so good.

But don't worry. I still eat cookie dough out of the tub.

Just not as often :)

Let's Be Happy I'm Alive

When my birthday happens I like to make it a week long celebration, and this years has by far been the best. Here are the highlights:

Monday: Recieved 3 birthday cards in the mail, one from my roommate.

Tuesday: Had "Happy Birthday" sung to me in staff meeting, whispered to me by a Jehovah's Witness (love ya Kel!), and texted to me 25 different times, was told I was one day hotter, recieved homemade butternut squash soup, had an amazing hair day, went to dinner with 2 of my best friends, got Zach Efron as a gift, partied with most of my favorite people at Iceberg, got a free black raspberry-coconut-cheesecake shake, and ended the evening with a fabulous conversation with a close friend I don't see often.

Wednesday: Went to dinner with the office, talked my boss into 7 rolls of sushi, watched "17 Again", stayed up all night talking and cuddling with my roommate.

Thursday: Tried on dresses and realized my normal size was fitting looser, did yoga with a close friend and mom, had a date with my married best friend while her husband was at class

Friday: Had a great day at work, went to a Brazilian concert with my roomie, enjoyed delicious fresh fruit flan.

Saturday: Slept in!!!!!!!!!, learned to use a sewing machine, sewed one single quilt block (it looked freaking amazing!), went shopping with a new friend, found an adorable dress for $7, threw a smashing mocktail party with my favorite people.

All in all....a successful week :)

Look....

I don't know who the guy is that decided that putting the food network on at the gym was a good idea.... but it's not. So to combat said conspiracy, I put this on my planner:

Who's laughing now funny man?

The Junk in the Trunk!

So I had the first weekend off that I've had in a long time this past weekend, and my roommate, Trista, and I went to a Belly dancing festival.

At first I was a little disappointed, cause I'd sacrificed $7 in the name of roommate bonding, and a potentially awesome cultural experience, and it was kind of like witnessing group therapy for women in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Frightening. But then it got better and there were groups that had travelled and had been doing it for years and they were actually quite amazing!

Belly dancing is interesting for a couple reasons:

1. It's completely mesmerising! You can't take your eyes off the dancer. All the flashy jingly stuff moving around real fast. Impossible to try and hold a conversation if you're like me and distracted by shiny objects.
2. Somehow it seems to encompass everything feminine. I'm not gonna lie, the whole time I just kept thinking "Man I want to do that!!!" It just looks like what I'm supposed to do. I was given curves, and by golly I'm supposed to shake them!
3. I don't even know what's attractive anymore...

The more that I watched these women parading around with exposed stomachs I started to realize that what we think is attractive is completely relative. There were pregnant women, older woman who had "lost their figure," ridiculously skinny girls, and everything in between. And let me tell you (Note: reading may not be suitable for the naturally skinny), the oh-so-coveted long torso-ed rail thin bodies looked absolutely ridiculous belly dancing. In fact, it was almost gross.

There was a group of high school aged girls who danced and though they were all amazing, most of the girls were really skinny and it was awkward to watch them. But on the end, there was a girl wasby no means fat, but she had a little extra on her and she looked fabulous doing it. Like she was meant for it.

And this theme continued on through the whole thing. The dancers that looked the most natural and the most beautiful were healthy, but not toned. When they moved you could see muscle tone, but there was also a small layer of padding. It just looked....like we're supposed to look.

It was quite the eye opening experience. I've redesigned my ideal body in my head, and vowed to take belly dancing classes from now into eternity :)