Turning the Leaf!

So lately I've been making some life changes. I've hit one of those monk-like moments where I just feel the need to simplify, get back to the basics, and find my inner....me. Here's the list so far:

1. Back on goal to loose weight. For those of you who knew me back in the day, I've lost quite a bit from my original weight, but I've never quite hit my goal. I'm officially back on target (after 6 years) and 12 pounds closer!

2. I deleted Facebook. And there was an uprising. I have a list of reasons, most of which are personal and boring, so I'll spare you the details. The thing that suprised me most was that the people who tried to stop me are the people I talk to on a fairly regular basis...or live right down the street....or my mom. I now feel disconnected from the social networking life...and quite frankly, I like it. I've never felt more liberated. Well, except when I'm naked. But that's a given ;D

3. I'm taking a 3 month dating sabbatical. Again, lots of personal reasons, but thus far it's been smooth sailing!

That's my list. I figure if I get anymore than that my brain might explode due to a perfectionist complex I happen to have. We'll see if I can keep it up. Looking hot in a swim suit and not dating for a whole summer. . . ? Bring it!

Takes Me Away...

That's right. I'm talking about sailing :) If I were more technologically adavanced I'd actually cue the song to come up when you read this...but I'm not.

So two of my friends recently bought a sailboat, just a little catamaran that you can realistically only fit 4 people on...3 is probably safer. It looks similar to the one at the right, and that thing that they're doing there...the whole floating in the air thing? Yeah, I did that. It was amazing!

Basically I've never felt more free in my life. Just imagine: 7pm, perfect summer evening with a light breeze. The sun is gradually getting lower and lower, and you're flying through the water, powered by nothing but the wind. Your feet are on the edge of the boat while you're suspended over the edge, wind blowing in your hair while you drag your fingers through the lake with no destination but the sunset.

It really must be what heaven is like...

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 :)

Married People!

Here I will pause from my Italy updates to interject a brief thought.

I love married people. I know I say that I don't, and I complain that my friends get married and then they fall off the face of the earth...but in reality I like them. A lot.

Yesterday I had lunch with my old roommate Julianna. We only lived together for about month, and then she got married, but being the only 2 normal people, we bonded pretty quickly. In our conversation, I invited her and her husband Jeff to an improv show that was happening last night. Apparently she was attempting to dodge some other plans, so they gladly accepted.

After the show, we stood outside talking for a really long time. We were all freezing and Jeff kept insisting that we should just go back to the apartment, and he'd make me a smoothie, but I insisted that I really needed to go home and go to sleep. And then we continued talking. After 3 similar conversations, we finally decided it was time to leave, and went to our cars.

While I was driving home I thought about how much I really liked Julianna and Jeff. Then I started thinking about how much I really like other of my married friends. I've spent a pretty good amount of time with them, and they're all amazing. Really what it comes down to, is that I have amazing friends. And they all married amazing people, because none of them are actually stupid enough to marry a lame person. So in reality while it feels like you're losing a friend everytime one of them gets married, you're actually gaining another great friend!! And to top it off you're just immediately grandfathered into this friendship because all your friend talks about is how completely amazing you are. No effort required. I love it.

So there you have it. I love when my friends get married. In fact I'm excited to get married so that my friends can all have a new best friend.

I love married people.