Snow Legs

The snowy, icy roads yesterday were eye opening. It's been a really mild winter here so far, so I wasn't prepared (emotionally) for the slippery ride I took to work, apparently beating the salt trucks on the road. It reminded me of this clip from Parks & Rec this week. Seriously, it was exactly like this, except for I was in a car, in the road.



The up side of snow is how cozy it makes you feel. Plus, unlike the birthday balloons, Daisy is loving it as evidenced in this picture of her rolling in the snow trying to get me to rub her belly, then later watching over the fence as I shoveled.

Ok, here's the thing about snow: it's pretty, and it's cozy, and it's sooooooo nice for Golden Retrievers to roll around in. Like, so nice. Plus, it's good for sledding, snow angel making, and probably something else but that's all I can think of. Here's the other thing: it is wet and heavy and makes the roads a straight death trap, not to mention the sidewalks which are unwalkable until you get your snow legs (like sea legs, but different).

But it's pretty, right? Let's just focus on that until May.

No "Fat Talk"

source

One of my favorite blogs is a blog called "Espresso and Cream". The woman who writes it is a food editor, and she posts recipes along with tidbits about her life. I have made a few of her recipes and they are some of the best I've tried. She's a very health conscious person, so she often gives tips on how to make a recipe healthier. Recently she wrote a post about her New Year's Resolutions and one of them really stood out to me: "No 'fat talk'". Meaning, no saying "I'm fat" or "my thighs look huge". She was quick to emphasize that this didn't mean she was going to stray from her fitness goals; just that she wasn't going to say mean things to herself about her body. I was surprised to hear her say this, because she's absolutely gorgeous, and I would have never thought she was insecure about her body. Why are we so hard on ourselves?

Her no "fat talk" goal really struck a cord with me. I've been dieting lately and I find that often (always) when I diet, I tend to get a bit whack-a-do in the head. As in:

(standing on scale) "Are you serious!? I've been dieting all day and I haven't lost a pound!?"

(looking in mirror) "Baby got back." or "I don't think you're ready for this jelly." or "No one is ever going to love me!"

(sitting at desk at work) "I can't believe I ate a potato chip this morning. I hate myself."

(looking at pictures people tagged of me on facebook): "How can anyone even stand looking at me!? I'm a monster!!"

Some of those might be a slight exaggeration, but only slight. It's really hard for me to be kind to myself, even when I'm not dieting and so focused on my body. I am definitely my worst critic. (As far as I know, anyway. If you're a worse critic of me than I am of myself, please stay far, far away from me. )

So, no "fat talk" for 2012 sounds like a great goal to me. I'm still working on a theme for the year, but I think I should make the ban on fat talk a general goal for me (for life). I want to keep up with my healthy eating changes and exercise without the increased negative body focus it brings.

I will need to come up with things to say that replace the negative, so that's something I will be working on. I need some mantras, and not something like, "a lot of guys like big derrieres" but instead something like, "my toes are freaking awesome."

What do you all think? Is this something you struggle with? Why is it so hard to have a positive body image?

Wednesday Thoughts

Today is my birthday. In an effort to be more positive about it, I hung up some balloons last night so I'd be cheered up in the morning. Unfortunately, I'm house sitting and the dog is terrified of the balloons, which I didn't realize. She won't go anywhere near the main room where she usually spends most of her time. So the balloons were a short term decoration, but they did cheer me up!

(hating life)

Other things that are cheering me up on my birthday?

My coworkers! Look at these awesome gifts they gave me, and the hilarious card one of them made for me:

Mustaches!? Funny pen? Flowers? Parks and Rec (check it out, I'm at their party!)!? Yes, please!

Oh, and even Facebook is cheering me up today. Birthdays are the one day of the year Facebook redeems itself for all the crappy things it did to you all year (showing you pictures of fun things you weren't inviting you to, letting you know that one guy you really liked is engaged now, showing you that picture of yourself where you looked really fat, etc).

And the last thing cheering me up today is all the comments you guys are going to leave me telling me your favorite things about me. Oh, did I just manipulate you? It's my birthday! Deal with it! (Plus, I was kidding. Or was I.)

The nice thing about having a birthday at the beginning of January is that it feels like a new start all the way around. New year, new age, new nose (when the bandages come off). I have noticed that people seem to be coming up with themes for 2012. Like, "move" or "be prepared" or "create". I really like the idea of a theme, and hopefully will come up with one before December. I only have one New Year's resolution: to learn how to French braid. Hopefully I can accomplish that soon, then just take it easy the rest of the year. We'll see.

Happy Wednesday!

Birthday Shtuff

My birthday is later this week. I've been anticipating it since July. But not in the excited way that a seven year old does. More in the "I can't believe I'm going to be that old" way. If anyone asks how old I am, the consequences will be dire, just so you know. In fact, I'm thinking that from now on, when someone asks how old I am, I will just say, "adult." Wouldn't it be nice if after a certain age, you could just give that answer?

In case you were wondering, here's what an adult does on their birthday:

Wake up at 5:30

Sort out my pills for the day

Read the paper (obituaries)

Drink a Slimfast

Go to work

Eat dinner at 4:30 (early bird special)

Take some Boniva

Do my taxes

Call NPR with a complaint about a grammatical error

Write out a five year plan

Check my head for gray hairs

Shout at some kids to get off my lawn

Drink some Metamucil

Get really T.O.ed about politics

Go to bed by 9:00

(I'm actually about fifty years too young for that plan, don't worry. I'm having a real party - with friends, cake, and maybe some Boniva milk shakes.)

War Horse

Before Christmas I saw an advertisement for the movie "War Horse". I remember turning to my sister and saying, "I wonder if I'm going to see that movie." There was something about it that kind of appealed to me even though it's pretty much the exact opposite of any movie I would normally see.

Well, see it, I did. Yesterday, to be precise. It was a very emotional movie. Luckily I was able to see it through a light hearted lens - literally. I bought a silly lens yesterday at the Detroit Institute of Art. My friend and I purposely sat in the back row of the movie theater so I could try it out on the movie. Don't worry, I didn't film the movie, use a flash, or have the sound on. I only occasionally took a picture that looked like this picture of the War Horse (right) and his best friend. (I added the heart later.)

BFFs

War Horse was pretty good. I give it 6 neighs (out of ten). I'd give it more except it was sad. War Horse had to go through a lot, and saw a lot of things I'm sure he'd rather forget. As far as animals movies go, it was much sadder than Babe, and even sadder than Free Willy, as seen on this illustration I made (I was told my whale didn't look right, but personally I think I nailed it):

All three animals had to go through a lot, but I think War Horse definitely had it the worst.

Babe: Had to learn how to herd sheep, make friends, and get the farmer to dance (which was pretty much the most emotional scene in movie history).

Free Willy: Had to teach a boy to love, deal with kids tapping on his aquarium without totally losing it, then jump over a breakwater to freedom. And didn't he also have to go through a car wash?

War Horse: I really don't want to say what he went through because it was too awful. But suffice it to say, he'll never be the same.

Throughout the movie I just kept repeating in my head, "no animals were harmed in the filming of this movie" because it's not easy to see animals suffer in any movie. Remember when a goose made fun of Babe? Heartbreaking.*

If you want to see War Horse, see it. Just know, it's sadder than Babe as far as animal movies are concerned.

*I don't remember if that actually happened but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Wednesday Thoughts

Welp, vacation is over. I read a tweet the other day that pretty much sums up my entire vacation:

"All I had to do today was buy sneakers and I didn't even have to do it and I didn't even do it." - Dave Horwitz

I had really high hopes for my vacation. I was going to get up early and work out every day, eat healthily, get a bunch of projects done, form meaningful relationships, and find a cure for male pattern baldness. But what did I actually do? Slept a lot, ate a lot, saw some movies (including Hugo in 3D, which was really good), hung out with friends, and cured male pattern baldness. So, it wasn't as productive as I'd hoped but it wasn't a total loss.

I did do some things I hadn't been planning on but that were pretty awesome. For example, I got to teach my niece the best scary story to tell at her first sleepover. You know the one I'm talking about - "The Call is Coming From Inside the House!!" She's seven years old, so I didn't make it too scary. I told her the story because she asked me what I did at sleepovers when I was a kid. I didn't tell her about putting people's bras in the freezer*, putting their fingers in warm water when they're sleeping to make them pee (does that actually work?), prank calling boys (pre-caller ID), or playing games like "Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board", or "Bloody Mary." All I told her was that we played games, ate junk food, and told scary stories. Did you have a favorite scary story when you were a kid?

Oh, and it finally snowed! It had snowed earlier in the month but it all melted. We had a green Christmas. It was not cool. But it snowed on New Year's day, which I think is a good sign. Here's a picture of Katherine looking out at the snow:

Also over the break, I realized I forgot a VERY important item on my best of 2011 list: going to the New Kids on the Block/ Backstreet Boys concert with my sisters! That was one of the best things I did all of last year. We danced, we sang along, we screamed till we lost our voices. And most importantly, I saw Jordan Knight for the second time in my life. Remember this?

My and Jordan's wedding picture

Here's the original post (link).

And on that note, happy Wednesday.

*I don't know if I ever actually did that or just saw Samantha do it on an episode of "Who's the Boss?"

New Year's Eve

I typically find New Year's Eve a bit disappointing. Too much pressure, you know? It's gotta be AMAZING and you have to kiss someone at midnight and it sets the tone for the whole next year! That's way too much pressure for one night. I'd rather just stay in, eat some chips and dip, and watch a movie.

But this year I helped a friend throw a New Year's Eve party, and I have to say - I had a blast. It was a great way to start the new year! We played games, ate delicious food, laughed a lot, and drank some non-alcoholic bubbly at midnight. At midnight we also read our 2012 fortunes from some fortune cookies I made for the occasion.

idea and instructions here

These are the fortunes I wrote for the fortune cookies:

The funny part was that the wrong people got the wrong fortunes, generally speaking. The skinniest guy in the room got the one about going down a pants size, a manly man got the one about getting eyelash extensions, and I got to the one about everyone finding me good looking in 2012, which is like duh, I mean of course they will (I kid, I kid).

My friend also had a Magic Eight Ball out, which said without a doubt that I am going to get married this year. And those things don't lie. So things are really looking up.

Every year at midnight on New Year's Eve, my friend Jimmy texts me that it's going to be the BEST YEAR EVER. He's been doing this for I don't even know how many years, and even from a couple time zones away, he always sends me the text at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Last night was no different. This year, I am hoping he's right! And I think he is.

So far this is what 2012 has going for it:

1. Drama (cause of the whole Mayan end-of-world prediction)
2. Excitement (because it's a leap year - seriously, SO much potential there)
3. Intrigue (because of the presidential election - I'm thinking about throwing my name in the hat! Why not!?)
4. Espionage (I'm not totally clear on what that word means)
5. Romance (Oh, there will be romance - I can feel it)
6. Betrayal (I just know Snookie's going to try to pull something on Jersey Shore*)
7. Feats of Strength (summer Olympics, much?)
8. Beauty (I had a pretty good hair day today)

2012 - Best year ever? All signs point to yes!

*I've never seen that show in my life, for the record.