Operation sweat my hair out is now complete….

Yep, I went running on Saturday (ran a mile, walked 1½ miles). Then on Sunday I walked 2 miles (and got caught in torrential downpour and was soaked- further messing up my hair.)

This morning I got up a little early and did my 30 day shred DVD with Jillian Michaels. It is only a 20 minute workout- but it is pretty intense!

I wish I could report a fun and crazy weekend, but I spent most of the time fighting with my girlfriend. And I don’t really want to talk about, because I’m not sure what to say yet.

Oh wait- that’s a lie! I went to dinner with the Angels on Friday night- how could I forget! I got to se B and her little pregnant self. So freaking adorable! We chit-chatted for hours oohhing and ahhhhing over all the baby details (and of course mucho belly rubbing!).

That was the highlight of the weekend… it just went down from there.

I spent a lot of time blog surfing over the last few days, and I have found some very, very cool fashionistas blogging about everything from their careers to fashion and make-up to shoe collections and love and many other things. It kinda made me feel a little envious.

I’m absolutely in awe that there are real life Sex and the City characters that live their life like I’ve seen in movies. I’m talking bicoastal living, destination weddings, AMAZING collections of shoes, clothes, make-up and jewelry, one of a kind pets, restaurant hopping, car services… the whole nine.

The shoe wardrobes are what really got to me. We are talking hot, HOT designer shoes that I have never so much as even tried on.

These ladies really have it going on and it really makes me what to be there as well.

One day I want to be blogging about living in NYC in my awesome Chelsea apartment, with my fabulous shoe collection, amazing career, flawless body, perfectly manicured nails, loving girlfriend, amazing friends and family that visit all the time- and loving every second of it.

Until then, I’ll just have to blog about what I want…

Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy with my life- flaws and all (most of the time) but a girl can’t help but dream.

Just a few things that I lust over....

Anyways, I am going to try to not wallow in self-pity and have a productive day at work. I'll dream about Prada, Valentino and Christian Louboutin- OH MY. (yes I am chanting from the wizard of oz- so what!)

I’ll be heading to the gym tonight to take out some of my frustration.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone.

“When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep walking”

Leave it up to me to quote from Carrie Bradshaw. This is from the episode- “The Real Me” when Carrie is asked to be a “real person model” in a hot NYC fashion show. She winds up being “fashion road-kill” when she trips on her stilettos and falls face first on the runway in front of all her peers (and the annoying photographer).

Anyways- I watched this episode last night and it got me thinking.

I have to keep going. I have to pick up my ever-spreading ass off my comfy Ikea chair and get back on the bandwagon.

Shit happens.

Get over it all ready.

So tomorrow, I am going to sweat my hair out with some hardcore cardio. (I promise this time)

Wish me luck.

On a completely random note, I am SICK of staring at my weight-loss tracker every time I click on my url. So I’m moving it to the bottom of the page- at least that way it isn’t the first thing I see.

Oh I almost forgot- I have a new follower- AmericanTribal. That makes 6 followers!!
Thanks everyone for reading!

Have a FABOULUS weekend everyone.

Why do we sabotage ourselves?

I’m not sure what is going on with me lately (other than the pms), but I am feeling extremely rebellious. My life is consumed with trying to keep a healthy diet and exercise- and figuring out ways to save money and pay off my debt.

Anyways, I said all that to say- I’m not weighing in tomorrow.

I don’t care.

Ok- I do care, but I don’t care to know how much I have gained this week.

And instead of feeling bad about it, I’m just not gonna look.

I’m writing this week off all together, and I will be back in the gym on Saturday (pinkie swear!).

I don’t know how to explain it. I haven’t been to the gym at all this week- the only thing I have been doing is watching Sex and the City and eating. I’ve given in to every craving I’ve had this week- Chinese food, pizza hut pizza, twizzlers, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, mint chip ice cream, frozen Margaritas (which later turned in to shots of tequila), risotto… and the list goes on.

G asked if I wanted to go jogging with her around the neighborhood in the morning before work-My excuse; I just straightened my hair and don’t want to mess it up.

The worst part is I have no remorse for my unproductive behavior.

Whacha gonna do… shit happens.

Back to golf balls…

This is completely random, but I wanted to share. RS sent me this foward this morning. I tend to get wrapped up in miscellaneous shit… so this is one that hit home for me.

**FYI: I’m pmsing big time. I shouldn’t be allowed around other human beings- I sat in my room for the last 2 days watching seasons 1-3 of Sex and the City- the only time I left the house was to get twizzlers and ice cream. Ugh.**

**P.S. My girlfriend must really love me.**


Anyways…. Here is the forward…..


Mayonnaise Jar & Two Beers...

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.


They agreed that it was…

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.


The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.


He then asked the students again if the jar was full.


They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.


Of course, the sand filled up everything else.


He asked once more if the jar was full.


The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.


The students laughed...

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.


The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your fri ends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff.


'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.


The same goes for life.


If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.


Spend time with your children.


Spend time with your parents.


Visit with grandparents.


Take time to get medical checkups.


Take your spouse out to dinner.


Play another 18...


There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.


Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.


Set your priorities.


The rest is just sand.


One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.


The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

Friday Weigh-In…

194.2

Boooooo!

I only lost ½ a pound!

I should have expected that though… seriously, remember the doughnuts? (and that was only the beginning!)

I have been doing pretty well as far as working-out- I have been to the gym everyday since Tuesday, and I am going to go after work today as well.

I’m getting used to pushing myself…. Like yesterday, I walked a mile at 5.0 incline then I ran a mile at 5.8 mph- then I did a set of 5 sprints at 7.0 mph, 8.0 mph and 8.5mph for 30 seconds each. I was absolutely drenched when I was done… but that is kinda the point! In a couple of weeks I’ll be running a mile with no problem then I’ll have to increase it to 2 miles!

** Completely random- but, after the gym yesterday G and I went to the movies to see “My Sisters Keeper”… Oh my GOD! We were both sobbing by the end of the movie. It was very emotionally draining… but it was a great movie. Just make sure you bring tissues if you go see it! **

I made some changes to my financial status on the sidebar-the bank is holding my ten grand, so I have to wait to pay off the two credit cards. However, I officially have my emergency fund fully funded. And I am on my way to being DEBT FREE! Woo hoooo!!

(Great thing about July is I’ll get paid THREE times instead of the normal two! That will help tremendously!)

G is going skydiving with RS tomorrow- yep I totally chickened out! I’ll be chilling at the pool with my girlfriend waiting to hear from them!

I hope everyone has an AWESOME Independence Day weekend!

Updates…

Financial diet…

Today is the last day of the month, so I thought I should update my financial status. Things turned out a little better than I had hoped because I finally go the extra 8 hours of pay for Memorial Day…. Extra money is always wonderful!!

More good news… I will have my emergency fund fully funded by pay day this Thursday.

Also, I finally took the time to consolidate some of my debt. I got a fixed rate 9.8% credit card from my credit union- so I am in the process of paying off credit card #2 and #3, since they had the highest interest rate (13.61% and 19.99%).

**random thought- I had to go to the credit union yesterday to pick up a $10,333 check (with my name on it-Holly shit!)- So that I could deposit it in my checking account and pay off my credit cards. For a second I thought about all the things I could do with the money if I just ran away. (Major shopping spree, multiple vacations… etc.) But then I decided I couldn’t run too far with 10 grand, so I just went to my bank and deposited it! lol :-)**

I have updated everything in the side bar to reflect these changes. I have some big balances to knock out now, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel so I feel good about it!

On to my “weight-loss diet”….

I haven’t been to the gym since…

…Since I don’t remember when. Let me look it up….

Okay, I haven’t been to the gym since last Wednesday.

Ugh.

That is no good!

I only had a one day weekend, and after work yesterday I was sooooo exhausted I went home and got in the bed. The gym was the last thing on my mind.

I plan on going to the gym tonight and every night for the rest of the week. So hopefully things will balance out!

I don’t want to talk about food. I have discovered something though- when I eat crap, I usually feel like crap too. I physically feel heavy and lethargic.

You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now.

Whatever! Today is a new day! :-)

One last update…

I hung out with my little this past Sunday. We went to go see Transformers.

I’ll just say that it was very interesting. *Lol*

She talked a little more, but I didn’t expect too much, especially since this is our first time hanging out together. She seems to be a good kid though.

I picked her up from her house… where she lives with a shit-ton of people. Seriously. It was a full house…. The uncle, the “Dad”, 2 brothers, 2 sisters, Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma…. Only thing that was missing was a dog or two.

If anything I’m sure she was a least happy to get away for a little bit.

After the movie- I told her I was giving her homework… she has to come up with at least one activity that she wants to do with me. A little while after I dropped her off, she sent me this text message….

“I want to go to the mall”

Lol… we are going to have to work on her texting- etiquette. So I guess our next outing will be to the mall.

My kind of girl! ;-)



I hate to cut it short (you know how I love to ramble)… but I have to get back to my slave labor for the day.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Tuesday!

Friday Weigh-in

194.8

Sweet!

Slowly but surely the pounds are falling off!

After the last 2 weeks I have had, I’m a happy with this number. I am going to push to get out of the 190’s.

I think it is time for me to set a new goal.

I want to get down to 188 lbs by Friday, July 17th.

That gives me 3 weeks to loose 6.8 pounds.

I can totally attain this goal! No problem.

Before I go any further, I have to acknowledge my weakness for food. I need to understand why I binge.

Confession….

I ate not 1 doughnut, not 2 doughnut, but THREE doughnuts this morning!

Seriously? What is my deal?

I need to promise myself, that when I have a craving for something not to deny myself… because when I deny myself I do stupid shit like this!

Now that I got that off my chest I can move on towards my goal.

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Michael Jackson's music was the soundtrack to my generation...

I just wanted to pay my respects to the King of Pop...

May you rest in peace.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Skydiving….

Yes, I am volunteering for the Big Brother/Big Sister program.

Me.

Sporadic, crazy, control-freak that I am; I am volunteering to be mentor.

When the match coordinator called me to tell me that they found me a little, he told me a little be about her... she has had quite a past at such a young age. Her hobbies are talking on the phone and texting, her favorite food is hot wings, she’s an A and B student… and she is shy.

Sounds easy enough.

I met my little on Monday. She is an eleven year African-America girl, we’ll call her JJ.

Our first meeting was supervised by the match coordinator. We had to do some icebreakers and fill out an info sheet on each other. Maybe it is just the age, and the pressure of the first meeting with me. But the conversation went something like this…

Me: Are you as nervous as me?
JJ: No
Me: * nervous smile with a stupid giggle*
Me: So JJ, what do you like to do?
JJ: I don’t know
Me: Hhmm, well what do you do all day now that you are on summer break?
JJ: Nothing
Me: Do you have any hobbies?
JJ: No
Me: * nervous smile with a stupid giggle*

So maybe this will be a little tougher than I imagined! I know it will take time to develop our relationship… I just am trying to figure out what in the world to do with her!?

So at the end of our first meeting we decided I would pick her up on Sunday for us to hang out. I asked her what she wanted to do, guess what she said? Yep. I don’t know. Lol… too cute!

I sent her a text message on Tuesday (since she likes to text) saying…

“It was nice meeting u and ur Mom yesterday! Would u like 2 go 2 the movies when I pick u up on Sun.? If so, is there anything u want to see?”

Six hours later she responds with this…

“transformers”

I was literally laughing out loud.

This is going to be interesting.

I’m totally looking forward to it though. I have a feeling I am going to learn a lot from this kid!

On to Skydiving…

R, my gay boyfriend is going freaking skydiving for his birthday (which is coming up the first week of July). He has a big group of friends going. G is even going! Seriously, G is going it’s already confirmed! I kinda do want to do it, but I am TERRIFIED! I think it will be an awesome experience, especially to share with a group of great friends… but seriously? SERIOUSLY??

And of course it’s not free… it’s $139 for the jump and then $90 for the video/pictures of the jump.

So we are talking $229 to JUMP OUT OF A PLANE!

** I just spent $200 on shoes and a dress- and for the record the shoes nor the dress could possibly kill me, so I am definitely keeping them both!**

Ugh.

I. don’t. know.

I have until Tuesday to decide. Right now I don’t think I am going to do it.

What do you think? Should I jump out of a perfectly good plane with a stranger attached to my back??

We shall see!

The last week and a half….

First my birthday…

I am freaking 27 years old!!

It’s so weird. I mean I know I’m an adult (and have been for a while) but I’m soooooo close to 30! I’m not afraid of 30 or anything. I just don’t feel ready for 30. It just seems so… official. Does that make any sense?

Seriously- I have 3 more years to go, so maybe I’ll grow up in that time??

Anyways…

The beach was amazing! I know I said that already, but it really was!


We drove down on Friday Morning. I drove C’s car with C and D and my Girlfriend drove her car with G and H.

*Completely random- but my girlfriend and I do not have the same taste in music AT ALL, so it’s best that we didn’t ride 4 hours together! I’m Frank Sinatra, and Beyonce and she is Shaba Ranks and “Ghetto sing-a-longs” (as I like to call them- you know what I am talking about)*

So anyways, we got down to the beach around noon and checked in and got the keys to our beach house. The house was literally right next to the beach. We had an awesome view of the ocean from the upstairs deck and an outdoor shower…. It was really cute!

Once K and R made it to the house we grabbed some food and then headed out to the beach. It was so freaking hot! So of course we had to bring the umbrellas for the black girls (sorry if I am offending anyone! It’s a bad joke that we have… I love being in the sun. My girlfriend, G and C insist on shade-lol. FYI- I absolutely wear sun block- 70spf on my face and 45spf on the rest of me every 2 hours!) You should have seen us trying to get those damn umbrellas up! You wouldn’t think it’s that complicated! By the end of the weekend we finally had it figured out… but wind still tried to flip it up a couple of time. Too funny!

Saturday was my birthday. G and I got up and went jogging on the beach. It was actually fun and I got a good workout in. I needed that workout too because H made me a chocolate cake and it was delicious! My friends are so cute they had everything setup when we got back from the beach that morning. My girlfriend got me an awesome Polar heart rate monitor that I have been looking at. C got me Jillian’s book “Master your Metabolism” (because she’s knows I’m a little obsessed with her right now!), G got me some gardening tools (which came in handy when setting up the beach umbrellas!!) a bracelet and some cute candles, H and K and R both got me Target gift cards. They are all so sweet.

It really was a good birthday!

**until G turned into a raging pmsing monster! (Love you G!) Seriously, I was pmsing too and didn’t know it- it was just a bad combination! **

I’m going to skip over the part were I got completely trashed (by accident) on champagne and cosmos and wind up puking and crying after a game of Phase 10. I don’t remember much of it anyways!

NEXT…

After my fabulous birthday weekend I had to hop on a plane to Texas for work. It was uneventful for the most part.

***Oh- expect for this one really discussing random thing. I found out that I am grossly allergic to pears. One of the dishes we had to prepare was this poached pear salad. We had a couple of pears that we didn’t need and I was starving so I cut a couple slices off and ate while I was working. I immediately started feeling weird and oddly nauseous . I’m thinking, “oh. Shit. I can’t be allergic to pears too!” Long story short, I didn’t make it to the bathroom, so I puke into a trashcan in the empty conference room. I know, I know. That is so gross and way too much information, but I had to share because it is so freaking weird!***

****I really need to work on my random sporadic thoughts!****

Anyways… back to Texas…

I did workout in the hotel while I was there. I did an hour of Cardio on 2 out of the 4 days I was there. But I didn’t write down anything that I was eating. Better than nothing I guess!

So that is what my last week and a half was like. Another year older… and already back to work. Boo.

My Mom got back from her vacation today, so I finally got to talk to her. I seriously have the best Mom ever. :-) I can’t wait to see them.

I do have some very important news to share, but I will have to share tomorrow, because I actually have to do some work now.

It involves the Big Brother/Big Sister program and Skydiving.

And no the 2 are not related, I think you have to be 18 to jump out of a perfectly fine plane. :-)