Thankful Thursdays: March 21!

Oh goodness, gracious, I'm actually getting around to posting a Thankful Thursday post this week.
Here's all the things I'm most thankful for this week:

Choir.
Ya'll know, I love to sing.  I may not be especially talented in this area, but it is a passion for me all the same.  And being part of the Good Shepherd UMC choir has been one of the highlights of my year.  This Sunday, GSUMC attendees are in for a special treat.  We've got a couple of our best songs lined up, plus two beautiful solos.  We had practice last night, and it felt like we throwing up beautiful wall of sound.  Do you know what that means?  I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but just trust me, it's beautiful.

My experience with Down Syndrome (aka Natalie)
Today, March 21, is World Down Syndrome Day.   The day when we celebrate that little something extra (i.e. the third chromosome on the 21st pair of chromosomes, hence 3/21 as a celebration date) that gives us our friends with Down Syndrome.  I never knew anyone with Down Syndrome before Natalie came along, and I've learned so much just the past two and half years.  I can't wait to watch her grow and see what she continues to teach me.


My little sister is moving to Charlotte.
Mandy's been gone from the Carolinas for three years to a foreign land called "Mississippi."  She is moving back this summer, and I'm so excited for her to come home.

Spring
Although the weather's been having a hard time deciding what season it wants to be, the few glorious days of spring we've had thus far make me feel like I'm living life in Technicolor.  Now, if it would just stick around...

They've made a movie about life as an admissions counselor.
In a previous life of mine, I was an admissions counselor for almost four years.  It's definitely one of those jobs that has a whole sub-culture. I'm curious to see if Admission nails it or not.

Three of my favorite people have become bloggers in recent weeks. Let me introduce you:
My dad, the director of talent management for a hospital system, has worked in HR, training and employee development for more than 25 years. His blog, All About the Buzz, is full of helpful tips, interesting factoids and inspiring quotes for managers.  Over the course of his blogs, he's showing us how customers benefit when employees are engaged and appreciated and how best to engage and appreciate employees. www.allaboutthebuzz.net.

The other two blogs are book journal blogs by friends of mine.  

JMo's Year in Books allows us to follow along with Jenna's book selections for the year.  I love it because I'm nosy and love to know what she's reading or thinking about reading.  Plus, I'm very opinionated when it comes to books, so I get to voice my opinions about what she has read or she should be reading next in the comments. 

The YA Wordsmith is written by the one person I know who reads more books than I do, my friend Nicole.  Also, she is even more addicted to young adult fiction than I am. Some of the best books I've read in the past 8 months (cough...Fault in Our Stars...cough) were recommendations from Nicole. So the fact that she is now sharing her insightful reviews via the worldwide web is a big bonus for you folk who don't have the luxury of casually chatting about books with her over the top of your cubicle, like I can and do.  Her blog helps me shape my "to-read" list.

That's all for now.  What are you thankful for this week?? Shout it from the rooftops! Or leave it in the comments section below, if that's more practical for you.

Vlog: How to Karaoke Like Jill Stuckey

I foresee this vlog becoming a "How to be like Jill Stuckey" vloggggaaa in the future.
Here's part two:

Today, I ran

After last night's blog, I couldn't get running out of my mind.  So this morning, I ran.

Granted, it was week 1, day 1 of the Couch to 5k program.  It consisted of a five minute warm up, then eight segments of 1 minute runs followed by 90 second walks.  But still, I count it as a run.

Pros:

• It made the time I normally walk the track in the morning go by MUCH faster.
• I felt proud of my work out. (I feel like that needs more explanation, but those are the only words I have.)
• I sweated a lot (which makes me feel like I've accomplished something.)

Cons:

• I've been kind of stiff all day and walking slowly.
• I've been super tired ever since.
• Today was tough, and it was just week one, day one. How will I ever progress to running 5ks? or 10ks? or half marathons? or marathons?

I remember when I used to jump back into the couch to five k program after not running for a few weeks, and I'd jump in at like week 3 or 4.  But today I started at week one, day one and it was tough.  The first run felt great.  By the fifth segment, I was having to talk myself into continuing by saying things like "only four runs left!" or "think about Cindy running 10 and half miles! you can run for one minute" or "what would cousin Tim do? He wouldn't give up because Nate doesn't give up!"*

What can I say? It's my own fault that I've let myself get out of running shape.  I honestly can't say if I will continue running, but there's just something about it that makes it a hard habit to shake.  I guess we'll see where this jaunt with running takes me.

*My cousin Tim's 7 year old son was diagnosed with Leukemia three years ago.  Tim just ran a half marathon in January to raise money for leukemia research.  He said repeatedly throughout his training that when he wanted to give up, he'd just think of his son enduring spinal chemo and hospitalizations and the other complications from cancer, and that would help him keep going. 

State of the Jill

As I've been absent from posting of late and when I have posted, I've cleverly avoided deep thoughts on health, weight loss and working out, I thought maybe I need to give you a big overview on where I am, philosophically (not geographically), on all these things lately. Cancel all of your regular programming and tune into this "State of the Jill" report. 

Working Out

Since January I've been pretty consistent with working out, logging about four or five workouts a week. I've practically* become a morning person, rising before dawn to work out. This is amazing, considering this post from a year and a half ago.  As I was telling someone last week, if I work out in the morning, there's only about five minutes each day when I can talk myself out of it (as I'm lying in bed contemplating my alarm clock). Once I make it past those five minutes, there's no way I'm not working out that day. On the other hand, if I plan to work out during lunch or after work, there are all kinds of things (you might call them excuses) that can crop up to keep me from my exercise. Another benefit to the "first thing in the morning" workout is there is no time to stop for breakfast on the way to gym.

Types of Workouts**

Since January and the onslaught of the morning workouts, I've been mostly walking as a workout, with an occasional swim or fitness class thrown in.  This was great in January as I had not been working out much at all in the fall, and I just needed to get moving again.  Now, though, I'm starting to get bored as I circle the track*** for the one millionth time each morning.  

This past weekend, I went for my first bike ride of the spring and loved it.  I hope to ride once or twice a week throughout the spring, and maybe get back to biking to work once the sun rises a bit earlier.  I've been toying with running again.  I kind of swore off of running last year as I got frustrated with it and with my weight gain.  However, my old running partner, Cindy, is running a half marathon in April and two of my cousins just did their first half marathons a month ago.  All three of these people regularly post their run stats on fb, which makes me curious and envious and basically makes me want to run again.  I have not started yet, but I'm seriously considering giving it another go. What can I say, I have a love/hate relationship with the darn thing and I can't quite seem to shake it.  Plus, as much as I say I hate running, I still really want to do another triathlon someday.

SIDE NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO HAVE THE MOST FUN OF YOUR LIFE AND ARE AVAILABLE ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 13 AND WILL BE IN CHARLOTTE THAT DAY, COME WITH ME TO CHEER FOR CINDY**** AT HER HALF MARATHON. TRUST ME, CHEERING IS WAY MORE FUN THAN RUNNING. Let me know if you are in.

Food

I am not in any way dieting or counting calories or trying to eat lots of fruits and veggies. I just can't bring myself to start anything like that. That part of me is kind of broken, and I'm not so sure it's natural/normal/healthy, even though it can be really successful.  I am trying to eat out less, but that's almost more of concern of the wallet than the stomach.  Or, really, both the wallet and the stomach. Anyway, the way I'm operating now, I pretty much buy the foods at the grocery store that I want to eat and then eat them.  I do make a few smaller meals at home each week, along with simple things like PB&J or cheese and spinach quesadillas. 

Being Overweight

Here's the way I see it.  If I'm not willing to cut my calories, then I can't really complain about being overweight. I am this way for a reason (I consume too many calories. And also, I blame genetics a teensy bit). I gained the weight back because of a reason (too many calories). For the most part, I'm not bothered by my size when I'm wearing clothes that fit.  Every once in awhile I catch a glimpse of my upper arm or my butt in the mirror and think a hateful thought. But I try to catch those thoughts as their happening and throw them out my mental window, because I'm trying to really cut back on that kind of stuff.  It doesn't do one lick of good.  Besides, I'm awesome.

Breakfast

Breakfast has always been a b**** for me.  Ask my mom. Even from the time I was little I hated figuring out what to have for breakfast.  Now that I'm working out first thing, I have to take a portable breakfast to work most mornings, which limits my choices.  I was eating oatmeal most days for several weeks until I got sick of the sight of it.  Then I created the wonderful concoction you see in the picture to the left.  It is a homemade breakfast sandwich!  Biscuits (out of a can) cooked on Sunday afternoon.  Then a pre-cooked (turkey) sausage patty and a bit of cheese makes a warm and delicious breakfast that I look forward to eating, but is about half the calories of a fast food breakfast.

Diet Coke

I still drink it.

There you go. That's an update on all of the topics we typically cover on the blog. Plus, lots of bonus embedded links to super old posts.  Let me know if you have any questions/comments/thoughts.  Sorry I've been such a lazy blogger lately. Experience tells me, though, that I can't promise I'll be better in the future, unfortunately.

*but not actually
**Seriously, is workout one word or two?  I seem to type it both ways, depending on if my thumb is feeling too lazy to hit the space bar or not.
***Since I'm working out before dawn in winter, I've been sticking to my gym's sweet indoor track.  Maybe once the sun decides to stop being a lazy bones and rise at a decent hour while providing an adequate heat source, I'll be able to go outside.
****I tried to find a great post about Cindy to link to, but it turns out I've never written an entire post on how awesome Cindy is as a running partner (or person).  But she's mentioned in about a million Thankful Thursday posts and they usually read something like this, "Today I'm thankful for my running buddy Cindy. She keeps me going even when I want to give up." Also she's mentioned in a bunch of race reports, because she is the person I'm most likely to run races with. Cindy, she's awesome. Let's go cheer for her, huh?

Spring

Isn't there just something about spring that makes you feel...
hopeful,
invincible,
happy?

Happy spring Friday!

Source: mostbeautifulpages.com via Erica on Pinterest

Some Days You've Just Got to Eat Cupcakes

Natalie, my 2 year old niece, enjoys chocolate cupcakes like I do.

Lessons Learned (And Re-Learned)

I successfully made it through one week with out going out to eat and drinking nothing but water.  I did celebrate last night by making a stop at Moe's on the way home, though. I savored every bite.

Here's what I was learning this week.

1) There is always food at home.
Do you ever stand in front of your pantry or your fridge and think "There's nothing to eat in this house?" I do. But get this - there is always something to eat in my pantry.  There's never like a piece of tumbleweed blowing across the pantry when I open the cupboard door. There are cans of soup that I bought years ago still in my cupboard.  There's always a little bit of left over pasta waiting to be cooked.  And always peanut butter and jelly and almost always bread.  And usually a frozen meal or two, sitting there from when I last had the brilliant idea to save time on cooking and just starting eating frozen meals.* I do not ever have to eat out.

2) I don't have to have a diet coke** to start the day.  I also don't have to have a diet coke mid-afternoon. I also don't have to have a diet coke when I eat salty foods or quesadillas.
I actually can survive a whole week without it. While I wouldn't say I felt a marked difference in general health or skin glow this week, it did feel really good to drink only water.  And my lips stopped being chapped, which I think is related. I did have a diet coke last night to celebrate the end of the week, but I'm gonna try not to drink them very often any more. We'll see.

3) Abwork does matter.
Sometimes, I start thinking that ab work (crunches, planks and the like) is silly and not worth the time.  After all, it's not like I'm going to do a few crunches every day and one day wake up with washboard abs.  But this week I've had an ab-wakening.  I went to a CrunchTime class at the gym this week and barely made it through this 20 minute ab-intensive class.  I couldn't even do more than half of the moves at all because my abs weren't strong enough.  But today, two days later,*** I can feel a difference that class made. Every time I move. Or cough. I like being sore in the abdominals. It makes me feel like I'm doing something.  And even if developing ab muscles does not give me a mid-riff baring stomach, I remember what it felt like to be ab-ulous, and I'd like to get back there again.

Sometimes I feel like I'm learning and relearning the same lessons over and over.  Seems a bit repetitive, but it is a bit easier to accept the 2nd (or 3rd) time around. Do you ever do that?

*I get this brilliant idea every few months and then I buy several frozen meals, eat one or two and realize that if they are the tasty kind then they are way high in calories and if they are the healthy kind they are usually not very tasty AND also not very filling. Then the remaining meals sit in my freezer for months.
**I realize diet coke is a proper noun and should be capitalized, but I like to think that by not capitalizing it, I'm stealing back a little of its power over me.
***You are always the most sore two days after exercise and not the day after.  Scientific fact.