Death by 30-Day Shred

Ok, so obviously I didn't die, but I feel like I'm damn near close. I'm by no means an expert athlete, but I was doing pretty well running and eliptical-ing so I figured this wouldn't be too bad... it was painful. I did the first time a week ago and I literally made it through 10 minutes before my legs were shaking and in horrid pain. It took about 4 days to feel like I could walk again. Anyways, I gave it another shot today and made it through the first workout. Now, keep in mind the workouts are only 20 minutes long, if you're scoffing at me now try it first. I was easily doing an hour on the eliptical or miles on the treadmill and 20 minutes was brutal. I'm going to keep up with this one and see how it goes. On the other hand in the past 3 days without working out I've lost 6 lbs by watching labels & cutting out processed food. The Jillian Michaels claim of 20 lbs in 30 days doesn't mean to much to me-- I'm pretty sure I'll do that anyways. I'm just hoping that this workout along with my regular cardio speeds it up. Whew.

Oh and if you're wondering about what the all of a sudden diet & intense exercise is, I realized a few days ago that leave for Italy in LESS THAN 4 MONTHS!! Holy crap. I refuse to be Fattie McFatpants in Italy or the pictures from Italy.

A day in the life of ME

Here's an average Saturday for me in Spring 2010:

I wake up at 9:30 a.m.

Make my bed

Start a load of laundry

Make my breakfast, yum! Spinach, Peaches, Raspberry, Strawberry, Banana Smoothie

Drink Breakfast, Make Grocery List, Take Vitamins, Check Facebook

Check work emails

Shower time. So fresh & so clean clean...

Still grumpy. I hate mornings

It's now 10:38 a.m. I'm in my Jeep

Grocery Shopping @ Harris Teeter

Yum yum.

Lunch

Me driving

On my way to DC Proper

The Nation's largest phallic symbol... Me likey

US Capitol Building

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I love this one

Eleephhhannnntttt!

A shout out to my Aussie friends ;) The difference between two types of Kangaroos

ROARRRRRRRR!I love me some American History

If you were unaware before, please realize that Washington had a pretty rockin' bod.

"If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is into it"

~ Abraham Lincoln on the Emancipation Proclamation

Vote for Abe! Political banner from 1860. My 2nd favorite president

The draft wheel from the Civil War. Names were put in, the wheel was spun and names were selected from this wheel 1 by 1. The numbers & birthdays selections came later.

Dorothy's Slippers! My favorite movie as a child was Wizard of Oz

Kermy has made it into the American History Museum!

Self explanatory.

Vietnam War: Televised. Every TV was playing different footage from the war in Vietnam. This exhibit had almost as many people watching as Abraham Lincoln's tribute exhibit, it was incredibly horrific.

I left the Smithsonian to head to the monuments. It was 90F out today, perfect for frozen lemonade and a sit by the reflecting pool.

My favorite place in Washington, between the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument. Perfect place to put your feet in the freezing water, eat your frozen lemonade & read a book....

So that's what I did for a while

After reading, I took a walk over to the Lincoln Monument, my favorite. After seeing Honest Abe, I was ready to head home. Back to the Metro

Smithsonian Stop

On the train, Jamming out to what else but Negramaro? Giuliano Sangiorgi, how I love you.

The obnoxious overly PDA couple in front of me. Took this out of shock that they stopped sucking face.

Me pleased that they stopped sucking face. (On the Metro)

Checking up on some websites :)

Salmon burgers for dinner.

After this my camera died :( The rest of the night went as follows:
Shower again.
Go to bar in Leesburg
Hang out with Gerry
Come home
Watch Chelsea Lately
Go to Bed.

Just do it

Sometimes we all have to do things that we don't want to do. Buck up. I'm tired of babysitting for men that are OLDER than me, get it together. It's not my job to make sure you're doing something correctly. You have 10 more years of experience, quit being a baby and do it. Just do it. Listen to Nike.

Does this even count as blogging anymore?

I'm not sure if it counts anymore. I've been gone Nov 23-April3rd. Quite a stretch. Let's see:

December: I went back to Dallas for 2.5 weeks for the holidays. I cannot believe how big my nephews are getting now. When I saw them at Christmas they asked if I could sleep over and watch movies with them until MIDNIGHT! It was a huge deal for a pair of 8 year olds, that was my New Years Day and it was awesome. We watched "UP," which was surprisingly good. For Christmas my nephew, L., got a scrapbook of his trip to Disney this year. Even with the massive amounts of video games he turned to my sister-in-law (his mom,) and said "This is the best present I've ever gotten." What a sweet little guy. I also found out that my other nephew, A., has quite an obsession with infomercials, which has lead to my brother purchasing the perfect brownie pan, a set of snuggies, as well as other random goodies. For any infomercial that comes on A will tell you "it's a 'Just wait!'" or "Auntie, it's a limited time offer where you get a free ____ oh and you double the order for FREE!" I love it.

My niece is, well she just is. She's 13 now and much more of a pain than I was at 16. She was nice enough to me but overall a moody, angsty 13-year-old girl.

January: Rough month. My work team was regroupped and it was a very emotional thing. I was taken away from my professional mentor, but the world kept spinning. Change is always hard, this was particularly difficult.

February: The work changes were starting to improve. Valentines day bitterly came and went. I didn't leave the house so I didn't have to stare daggars at any fluffy red hearts or people with, gasp, flowers. (pouts) Oh, still a bit single, if you couldn't tell.

March: March was pretty good. I had a meeting with all of my coworkers in Maryland/DC. We resolved most of our issues with our work changes, if not all of them. I feel much better. I applied to another position but since I am happy here I wont really mind either way. I also had a friend from Dallas fly in for a conference so we were able to meet up for a night of debauchery (read: 3 drinks and some smack talk.) I quit smoking this month, despite a few minor setbacks, OH and I booked my trip to Italy!!!! I leave in 150-something days.

Now that we're caught up here is the thought I wanted to post initially:

Sometimes you have to let things take their own course. We can plan, plan, and plan some more, but circumstances are always susceptible to change. Be patient, you will find what you want. Be kind, as you can be what others need. Be imaginative, dream what others haven't dreamed. Be amazed. Basque in the glory that surrounds you. For it is what you least expect that is right around the corner.

Busy day

Call with the CEO today, I feel ultra businessy. It went well, despite not being able to hear much, hopefully the notes will fill me in a little better. I had a training this morning. Last training before Black Friday! Do well my little birdies, do well. Not much else going on. Lots of cleaning, decorating, creating. I need to go get more concrete for a new project I'm doing. It shall remain a secret for now.

The picture is me on my training call this morning.

Goodness

Well, another long break from the world of blogging. So much happened during the month of August. To be truly honest, it was too painful to come back and see the previous posts about Ian. I dreaded it. The good news is that that is over and done. I'm ready to get back to it now. I'm home until Jan. 1, so we're going to go back to pictures. I figured I would submit a few for my absence.

8/20/09

TECHNICALLY it's 8/21/09 but I haven't gone to bed yet and I needed to post 8/20's picture of the day. There were so many beautiful pictures from the trip today it was hard to pick one.

These clouds were the light and fluffy ones that you see and identify shapes in as a child. As much as I travel I never really paid attention when flying in these conditions. It reminded me of being a little kid again, and due to the clouds comment from Ian a few days ago, I took millions of pictures, or 34. Here's me in wonderment with my hair thrown up in a rush.

I certainly am working to reattain the fun, innocent escapes of being a child. Everything seemed so magical. Can we ever really get that back? I'm not sure, but I'm sure going to try!

I had a BLAST yesterday hanging out with a friend. If it was a smart idea, I have no clue.