I'm late for a very important date

My practical New Year's resolution this year is two-fold:  to give up the snooze button, and to be on time.  

I hate being early for things.  Something about the way I'm hard-wired makes me think that being early is a waste of time.  Why get somewhere 10 minutes early, when I could have spent that ten minutes fixing my hair, talking on the phone, or grabbing a coffee?  At the same time, I despise being late, which is how I typically operate.  I'm late, I'm grouchy, Bradley is slow, and I am stressed.  My habitual tardiness makes me 10 minutes late for choir, or 15 minutes late to work, and it's become a habit I am none too pleased with.  So I am trying to change that mentality and be more proactive about getting up earlier and leaving earlier so that I'm not constantly in a rush, and allow myself to relax and enjoy the 10 "extra" minutes I might have by arriving to my destination with time to spare.

So hello 2013, and goodbye snooze.  

Since we are a good ways into the month now, I will admit that old habits die hard, but there has been a vast improvement, and I am headed in the right direction.  What are your resolutions, and are you keeping them?

Computer Complaints

2010 has brought nothing but computer woes to me it seems! First there was the massive virus, then the week spent trying how to handle that, then the week at the computer shop. Then after getting it back home again, I couldn't get my pictures to offload from my camera (something I'm doing every few days in order to have new pictures to put in blog posts) and now the computer will not even turn on!! So I am back to using my decrepit, old, broken down Mac.

I am bored not being able to blog with pictures, and I'm sure you're bored reading this. Heck, I bet you're not Even reading this! You probably took one look and scanned down and saw no pictures of Bradley so you went on to your next stop on the world wide web. Can't say as I blame you.

I am on day 4 of the Transformation Challenge, and I'm excited to have Scottie Dog and Rhonda Lu doing it with me, long distance. So far, I finally tried out a local yoga class Tuesday night, and I am still sore from it- VICTORY! and then yesterday, I resisted sharing a bowl of ice cream with Brian at 10 o'clock at night, only because I had eaten some after lunch prior that day. FAILURE! And then after I said no, I made him give me bites anyways... EVEN BIGGER FAILURE! Today I'm going running though, and tomorrow I have stroller class to look forward to.

Oh yes, and one more thing- Mom and dad are coming to visit tomorrow! I am super excited since I haven't seen them since New Year's. And hopefully I'll be blogging soon (with pictures) about how we got our computer fixed once and for all.

Run-on sentences

Today officially starts the 90 Day Transformation Challenge. Become a fan of "About Face Fitness" on Facebook to keep up with the contest and post encouraging messages! My post today said this: enjoyed my last coke yesterday... only 89 more days to go- ha ha!

I ran a 5K this past weekend, and as far as times go, it was my worst one out of the three I've done (35:16) but to be fair, I was running with a group this time, and wanted to stay with the group when I could have pushed myself at the end. Today however, I registered for the McGuire's St. Patrick's Day Run which is coming up on March 13th. I had to list a prediction time, and so I put down 33:30. If I can run that, it will be my best time, and put me towards my goal of running a 5K in under 30 minutes. In each division, the runners closest to their predicted run time win prizes.

Purple Powerhouses: Kim, Jess, and me

Kim and I before the race, wearing our matching About Face Fitness sweatshirts.

After the race Kim went to get her stuff out of my trunk and she wondered how we'd know whose sweatshirt was whose. Without missing a beat, I replied, "smell them." It's a well known fact that everyone has their own distinct scent, and so after sniffing the shirt we were each holding, we exchanged them quickly with a laugh and a, "this one's yours!"

The 90 Day Transformation Challenge

My friend Jessica is a personal trainer, and is sponsering a program called the 90 Day Transformation Challenge, meant to encourage and motivate people to take their fitness seriously by setting short term goals for themselves, and communicating with fellow challengers. Today is the cutoff for signing up for this, but it's free to sign up, and there are awesome prizes for both the locals and the out of towners, so follow the above link to her website and take the challenge with me!

Part of the challenge is to update everyone on your goals at least once a week, so I plan on using the blog as a forum for my personal progress. Below are my goals that I emailed to Jessica, copied here in black and white, so they're there for the world to see, so no backing out now!

During the next 90 days, I plan on eliminating extra calories and "processed sugar garbage" by giving up cokes entirely (for a southerner, this translates to not drinking any kind of soda or pop, for you yankees). My goals are to run a 5K in under 30 minutes, drop a full clothing size from an 8 to a 6, and lose 10 pounds at least, putting me somewhere in the 125 range. I plan on keeping up with my running 3 times a week, and stroller fit class twice a week, and I'd also like to work in some pilates and yoga here and there. Two Bible verses that I will use to motivate and encourage me are:

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14 and

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you,
whom you have received from God? You are not your own." 1 Corinthians 6:19.

The end result of this challenge for me is that by June 1st, I will be a "hot hot mama," look good in my swimsuit, and be well on my way to my new year's goal of being in the best shape of my life.

Still Resolved

It's February 1st. Do you know where your resolutions are??

I made it through January 2010 in pretty good shape (pun intended) in working towards my 2010 goal of being in the best shape of my life. I worked out an average of 4 times a week which is amazing for a self-proclaimed couch-potato in the throws of the cold winter months! I read the book Skinny Bitch which has forced me to take a long hard look at what kinds of food I put into my body, and has zapped up what little taste for milk I ever had before I read it.

Unfortunately, I'm starting out my February by skipping my Monday morning stroller class! After getting no sleep this weekend, Bradley and I lazed in bed until 8am this morning, and it was too cold here to motivate me to get ready and out the door in 45 minutes. We watched reruns of the Grammy's Red carpet show on E and Sesame Street and ate french toast instead. I vow to do better the rest of the week though.

Resolving to blog

Overwhelmed- that's how I'm starting my new year, now that I'm home and trying to get my house, my planner, and my life back in order after travelling to Tennessee for a few days. I have so many tasks on my to-do list, so many chores around the house to complete, and a million and one pictures to upload, then blogs to write once said pictures are uploaded!

I tend to get so overwhelmed with all my self-imposed work that I often end up spinning my wheels, not accomplishing anything, so I figured if I could at least write a quick blog to get the creative juices flowing (all the while multitasking and printing off a new weekly cleaning list for myself and uploading the pictures from my camera) then I could at least feel satisfied knowing I've accomplished something for the day.

My new year's resolution is a broad but simple one: I want to be in the best shape of my life this year so I can truly be a "hot hot mama." I took steps towards accomplishing this goal last night by getting back on the running wagon, and ran through the neighborhood with the girls for a half hour in sub-zero temps last night. Well okay, so it wasn't sub-zero, but it was at least in the low 30's and it was darn cold!

I started the book Skinny Bitch last week and it calls for a major lifestyle change chanting the mantra over and over, you are what you eat. In short, if you eat crap, then you are crap. It's a snarky tough-love approach geared to make you want to give up (in no particular order) all meat, dairy, cokes, coffee, sugar, caffeine, smoking and drinking (except for organic red wine). I think I might need a daily dose of that organic red wine if I truly gave up all that other stuff! But I'm not finished with the book yet, so I'll save my judgement til then.

So it's January 6th- I wonder how many people have already given up on their resolutions? Not MAB, who's blogging daily for a month!

So, you'd like a wedding at home on January the 6th.... that give us 7 months- uh-oh, Hello! That Five months. Five months, not much.

Dubs Down

I am still learning all the protocol for what is acceptable and not acceptable to talk about and write about concerning Brian's deployment, but last week we hit the 20 day mark of him being gone. In the long run, 20 is still a small number, but I feel like it was a good milestone to achieve. In my OCD-ness, it is a nice, neatly packaged set of 10, so that makes me feel like we've accomplished something. 20 days in reality feels like a lot longer though. It's hard to believe it's only been a few weeks, and can get discouraging when I think of how many days are still ahead of us, so that's why I count down to the next set of 10 days, so I can put another check mark in the box.

Thankfully, I've had 2 sets of visitors, first Ari, and then my parents and sister, so that has helped fill up my time. I'm still running 3 times a week with Jess and Kim, and I have still met my personal goal to get out of the house at least once a day. Brian has easy access to a phone, so he has been able to call me almost daily, and usually more than once a day. He's doing fine where he is, except that he has mentioned killing a lot of mice, and the food there being terrible.

Bradley is walking a ton now, so he is keeping me busy. More than once today he has appeared behind me out of nowhere seemingly, and silently, so I've started to refer to him as "my little ninja." I leave him in his room to play, and then BAM! out of nowhere, he's behind me as I'm folding laundry or at my feet as I open the refrigerator.

If you're keeping up with the tropics (and you know I am!), tropical storm Claudette dumped a lot of rain on us here, but nothing else to report, and it looks like we don't have much to worry about with Hurricane Bill in the coming days either. As always though, you can count on me, "Hurricane Bradley" to stay abreast of the latest tropical disturbance.

TGI2009

I can say with quite certainty that 2008 has been the best and the worst year of my life, so I welcome 2009 with open arms! In lieu of the expected New Year's Resolutions, here are the things I anticipate the new year will bring:

• Bradley's first birthday in June
• Going back to work- whether that be a full-time or part-time job
• Laura & George's wedding in March
• Finding out once and for all if Bradley's hair will be blonde or red
• Bradley's first words, steps, and finally sleeping through the night (please, God, let this one come soon!)
• My last birthday in my twenties (I'm depressed already!)
• A renewed, restored relationship with Jesus

Here's a few shots of Bradley in his special New Year's outfit, compliments of Old Navy. I'm ringing in the new year today by having a traditional new year's day dinner with our family friends the Reeds, in which Sandy will bring her famous corn bread, and mom will make everyone take at least a bite of cabbage and black-eyed-peas, the northern and southern traditional foods supposed to bring luck and money in the new year! I'll also probably start Harry Potter book 7 again since I just finished re-reading book 6 this morning. Nothing like a cold winter day to curl up in bed and read a good book! That's it for me. Happy New Year's, everyone.

F&%k*#g S*&t!!!

Brian and I have recently been convicted about the words that come out of our mouths. The Bible talks a lot about our speech, and the damage careless words can do. As new parents we are trying to set a good example for Bradley and model the behavior we expect from him, but we realize we can't wait to start cleaning up our act once Bradley is old enough to imitate us. By then it will be too late, so we're starting now. For starters we are putting a quarter into Bradley's piggy bank every time we sip up and say a cuss word. So far Bradley has $6.25 in his bank thanks to our loose lips!

Blogging Blahs

One hour and $143 later, I am back at work. For my lunch break today I treated myself to some much needed Retail Therapy, aka Target, and I have 2 measely bags to show for it. How the heck does that stuff add up so quickly?!

I also allowed myself to run for the Border for a quick bite (the shopping wore me out) since Miss Borders mentioned Taco Bell yesterday. I felt guilty mid-burrito but finished it all anyways, and now I am back for what is hopefulyl to be a stress-free afternoon.

Recently work has got me stressed. The Man has got me down. But I came to the stark realization this morning that stress is not a necessity or a bi-product of my job or life- stress is brought on by how I react to my environment, and it is a choice I can make. I am not a victim of stress, and for crying out loud, I'm 26 years old and my life is pretty darn good right now. I have no room for complaining, and no room for stress. So I came up with a new mantra for work this morning. Say it with me:

It's not life or death, it's just choral music.

Whenever I start to get overwhelmed I am reminding myself that all I can do is to do my job to the best of my ability. I can't control what comes out of my customers mouths. I can't control UPS's shipping errors. I will not worry that my voicemail light has been on for an hour without me checking. the Soprano rehearsal track cd can wait. It's not life or death, it's just choral music.

Does the Man have you down? Are you feeling overwhelmed with life? Do yourself a favor and remember that all you can do, is all you can do (thanks Jeffrey Steele for that great song!). Stress is a choice, and you can refuse not to partake. It's freeing.

Drum Roll Please...

And here we are, well into the new year, and it’s my first blog of 2007. I know. I continue to disappoint and abandon You the reader. Guess what my new year’s resolution is? To Blog More! Ha ha that would be a good one, wouldn’t it? I am only kidding of course. In lieu of last year’s much talked about list, I have made a new resolution this year, and that is not to have any resolutions! (Which, I suppose IS a resolution in itself, but whatever) That way I don’t have to feel guilty about breaking them! I did write in my journal (with pen and paper… how positively prosaic) several “goals” for the new year. Most of them are going well thus far, but one at the top of the list- “do not hit the snooze button” I broke the morning of January 2nd- the morning I started back to work after having a week off! I literally rolled over and chanted the mantra to myself.. “new year’s goal- do not hit snooze” and then I rebelliously hit the large button and rolled back over for 10 more minutes of blissful zz’s.