Life is Good!

Have you ever been so full of joy, diet coke and lawn-maintenance-induced-exercise-endorphins that you want to shout it from the rooftops?  No? That's just me? Okay, I can deal with that.

After an exceedingly stressful beginning of June, the last couple of weeks have been so rosy they could almost be deemed "maroon." Let me count the ways* (roughly in chronological order).

• I love wine bottle (or tequila bottle) torches.  Aren't they beautiful?

• I finally made it to see my friend Glenda's baby for the first time since he was born. He was beyond adorable at four months.  See photographic evidence below.

Look at happy Spencer and happy Glenda!

• Some of the stress from the beginning of June was due to a two-day photo shoot I was organizing at work.  Turns out, all of the hard work I put in to organize it paid off as it went off exceedingly well.
• They opened one of those self-serve frozen yogurt stores in my neighborhood.  Ours is called Orange Leaf and I love it a lot.
• I spent one full day floating in the waves laughing with two immeasurably great friends while the sun watched over us. We got great color.

These are my friends. We laugh a lot when we are together. So much.

• I started reading Gone with the Wind for the 2nd time. I'm alternating between loving and hating Scarlett O'Hara, but either way she is a very rich character.
• I've seen bunches of movies lately, some good (Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks was better than expected thanks to love-of-my-life Zac Effron) and some not so good (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World...more like Seeking a Friend to Rescue Me from this Movie Theatre)
• I re-arranged my bedroom.  My proclivity for this activity is inherited from my mother, if you're wondering.
• I registered for the Charlotte COLOR RUN.  More on this later. 
• I watched my best friend consume a hot dog in three bites.  I giffed it for her and she could sit and watch the gif for days.  Now you can too.  Although, I realize it is exceeding large, here. I have no idea how I did that.

• I went to Atlanta with my friends, the fives, and saw my beautiful and funny friend Taylor.  We basically laughed all weekend.  We are very funny people.
• I reconnected with my youth by going to the Braves game.  I was such a huge Braves fan between 1994 and 2002.  I had almost forgotten how fun it is to cheer on the bravos and yell out baseball-y things from the bleachers.

The Fives at the Braves

• As a bonus, I got to see my mom, dad and 4-year-old niece while I was in ATL. Caitlin entertained me by telling me about the beautiful wedding dress and crown she gets to wear when she's in another aunt's wedding in a few weeks. She then informed me she would be wearing the wedding dress so she could marry her cousin Jack (the ring bearer). She may be slightly confused about what exactly is going down that day.
• I went to this sunflower field. Sunflowers make me happy.  I'm hoping to take others to the field to introduce them to the happy sunflowers tomorrow and this weekend.  Showing sunflowers to others makes me even happier.

I TOOK THIS PICTURE! THESE SUNFLOWERS ARE HUGE!

• PERHAPS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING THINGS: I released this video.  I love it, mostly because I love my way-more-talented-than-me co-stars, Luis and Cara.  We're trying to make it go viral, so feel free to watch it again once more (or a thousand times more).Or share it with your friends, family, neighbors and any small children you know (small children seem to especially love it). I actually spend a lot of time thinking about how to get more people to watch it. When I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about what song we should do next. So if you've seen me the last few days or in the next couple of days, just know I may be talking to you about something else, but I'm actually only thinking about this video. Fair disclosure.

• We got our pictures back from the photographer (these are the pictures from the photo shoot mentioned in the first bullet), and they are so beautiful and they make me fall in love with my school all over again. I'm proud of the pictures, and I'm proud of my campus.
• All S.C. state employees are getting a raise this month!  Our first cost-of-living raise in years!
• I HAD A DAY OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. Glorious.

I saw no fireworks today, but I'm not concerned by that. My philosophy when it comes to fireworks is, if you've seen one, you've seen them all.  I know some people get really excited about fireworks, so I hope I've stepped on no toes. I'm not anti-fireworks like I am anti-Olympics. I just don't have to see fireworks on a hot and steamy July night.

What's been great in your life lately?  And, perhaps even more important HOW GREAT IS OUR CALL ME MAYBE VIDEO??????**



*two things you should know about me. I love lists and abbreviations. Bunches.
**I'm sorry for shouting so much in this post.  It's all that joy, endorphins from lawn care and diet coke. 

Call Me, Maybe?

In my absence from blogging, I have been keeping up with some creative outlets...including being part of a Call Me Maybe video!  You may have seen a Call Me Maybe video before, or maybe not, but either way, you won't want to miss this one.




Thanks to my co-stars Luis and Cara, plus Elvi for her behind the scenes work!

I hope you enjoy it.  Feel free to share with your friends!

I'm Still Alive

Thanks to all those who asked after the blog in its absence. Your thoughts are appreciated.

I wanted to write this post, because I'm going to continue to take time off from blogging, but I don't want my last post about The Rules, to sit up there forever. It wasn't a particularly insightful or helpful.

I have enjoyed being a non-blogger again. I had many reasons for taking my break and actually when I started this post four sentences ago, I thought I was going to use this chance to explain those reasons to you in detail.  Then I realized that's probably not all that interesting, and you don't really need to know. Your lives will not be affected by me going into detail on why I'm taking a break from blogging.

I do, however, want you to know that I'm not using the break from blogging as an excuse to go crazy with my eating habits or give up exercising completely.  I'm still monitoring what I eat and exercising regularly, though perhaps not quite as frequently as I have at times in the past.

But here it's been nearly a month since my last post, and I think if I were still writing daily it would be more of the same thoughts that I've been regurgitating regularly on the blog over the past two years. (i.e. running is hard. I love ice cream; but I wish I loved vegetables so eating healthy would be easy, etc.)

FYI: I decided not to do the tri I was eyeing in June (it was last weekend), because my running has been slim to non-existent lately. I think it's getting to hot for it lately.  I'm still considering a late summer one, but not if I don't get my running but in gear.

So all that to say, I'm doing well, and I miss you guys (and I'm glad you've missed me).  I'm not back to regular scheduled blog mode, but I will check in here from time to time.  I think I just want to enjoy living life, rather than blogging about it.  I also want to make sure that when I blog, I've got something worth saying.

The Rules

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you've noticed that I have a set of rules that I follow when I am "on track."

They include:

• No breakfast at fast food places.
• No eating out on weekdays.
• Three liters of water a day.
• No more than two diet cokes a day.
• Exercise 5-6 days a week.
• A daily calorie intake that concurs with my desire to lose weight (the actual number varied)

In the past, having these rules worked well for me. They gave me boundaries. When I stuck to them, I lost weight.

However, having these rules has drawn sharp lines in my life.  I'm either succeeding, when I'm following the rules, or failing, when not following the rules.  Success leads to feeling confident, in control, happy.  Failure, well, failure sucks.

How did my confidence and my happy become about whether I follow a few rules that I set for myself? Why did I draw these lines in the sand?

I realize I need to lose weight and that I set these rules to help me with that.  But they've become too all-important.  So now I'm going back to the drawing board to figure out what being healthy is all about.  And I'm thinking it's going to more than just a set of stupid rules that I find hard to follow.  I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Let's Talk about Bikes, Baby

This was a biking (cycling) kind of weekend.

First, Friday night I went to Rock Hill's new velodrome. As far as I can tell, a velodrome is a bicycle track that has embankments all the way around. Check out these pictures.

(in this last pic, they are starting on the rail.  It's either that or they start at the bottom and an official has to hold their seat to keep them upright until they get to actually start going.)
Anyway, I went to watch the races, not to participate. I don't think I ever want to try it. You have to pay money to get certified to ride on the track, but plus, it just goes around and around.(I think the announcer said it was a 1/4 mile track) And it looks scary to ride with a group.   But it was fun (and free!) to go watch and I learned a lot about bike racing, so that's a plus.  They have races every Thursday and Friday night, with the more experienced racers going on Friday. Just, you know, if you get some hankering to watch bike racing, now you know where you can. Rock Hill is a town of many wonders, truly.Saturday morning, I set out to ride farther than I ever had before. I ended up riding more than 17 miles, which turns out takes you really far. I just kind of left home, cycled out about 8 miles and turned around came back with some detours to up my mileage. Turns out you can go far! I went all the way to the edge of Lake Wylie (where it touches Rock Hill), which really impressed me.I think I could really get into biking. It's fun, it's challenging, but it's not impossibly hard. And you get to see lots of things. Not well as you could if you're running, but better than when you are in a car.Saturday afternoon I had to swing by the bike store to pick something up and one of the guys there recognized me from the races Friday night.  So I got to meet the guy who was winning a bunch of the individual races that night. It was like a mini-biking celebrity encounter for me.
So anyway, I've been living a bike-tastic life lately and it's not been too shabby.  Thought I'd share.  Let me know if you want to come watch some high speed bike racing with me sometime!

Exercise Plan These Days

I still have my eye on the June 9 Tri Latta as my next race.*  Training for a sprint tri is not as hard as you might think (because the distances are really short), but it does mean I need to get regular workouts in three different sports in.  It can make scheduling difficult, even though I'm not following a particular training plan.  So here's the plan I worked up for this week and hope to follow for the next few months.

Top priority: run/walking three days a week, Monday/Wednesday/Friday

This is what I look like when I
run in the winter.

I'm still not running well enough/far enough to be happy.  This is my weakest area, and therefore gets the most number of workouts per week.  This week I resigned myself to running inside on the track (never the dreaded treadmill!) if it's too hot.  While the track doesn't have the rolling terrain and the weather elements of the outdoors, it's better than nothing. If I can, I'll save my runs for after work and go outside.  But when that's not a possibility, the track at lunch is better than nothing.











2nd priority: bike twice a week: Thursday and Saturday

This is what I look like when I
bike in a race.

 I got in some quality cycling last week in Birmingham, so I feel better about this then I did.  I'd still like to build up my distance some as my longest recent ride is 14 miles and the tri is 17.  Most, if not all, cyclists will tell you that 17 miles is nothing, but I think it would boost my confidence to know that I've already done 17 before race day.  On Thursdays, I'll be riding during lunch, and I won't be able to do more than 9 or 10 miles. So on Saturdays, I'll try to bike further.











3rd priority: swim once a week: Tuesdays

This is what I look like when I swim
next to my friend Bryan in a kayak.

Swimming, while not to be ignored, is the easiest for me to pick up and go do if I haven't been in the pool in awhile. It also only constitutes about 15-17 minutes of the actual race, whereas I'll be biking for over an hour. I do need to keep it up at least once a week, though, so I can keep up my endurance and teach those 750 meters who, exactly, is the boss.





However, do you know what's missing from this list? Strength training.  I'd also like to fit in two short strength training sessions (like 20 minutes) each week.  I will either handle those after work  or after my lunchtime runs, as the runs are usually pretty short workouts. I haven't been strength training regularly since October, which means I really need to get back into it and I need to ease back to it so I don't hurt myself.


Obviously, this is plan not set in stone**, as if it looks like rain on a Thursday or Saturday I'll have to switch up the biking with something else. But I'm glad to have a plan.  Even if you're not in training for anything particular, it's helpful to schedule your workouts so you can't skip if you just don't feel like getting your sweat on. What's your workout plan look like right now?

*Although I reserve my right to wait to register until the last minute, when I know whether or not I can run a decent amount of 3.1 miles, if not the whole thing.
**Technically, I've never set anything in stone as I don't have a chisel or large, flat stones for writing on.  But you know what I mean.

Thankful Thursdays: May 16

It's that time again...thankful Thursday is here and it kind of snuck up on me this week. Here's some reasons I have to be thankful:

This week has gone by super fast and been super productive.
Does everyone experience the same phenomena that when you miss a week of work and come back, you're swamped?  Even when you have wonderful co-workers covering for you?  I do.  But I've been coming in early and working hard and I'm knocking things off my list left and right. It's a good feeling.

I've been cleaning out my fridge and cupboard this week.
I've been too busy/lazy to get to the grocery store since coming back from my parents, so I have been eating out of the abundance of food that is in my cupboard instead.

For my car.
For real, I think I've listed my car on a Thankful Thursday before, but GeorgJetta's been a real trooper of late.  I appreciate her.

For half decent runs.
I've had to run inside on the track at the gym twice this week, because it's been too hot outside. And I've stepped back to week 4 of the C25k program, but still I'm sticking with my plan to run/walk three times a week and I have faith that I will someday be able to run 3 miles again.  Someday.


For my friend Luis Instagraming his trip to London.
He's there, now, and he's posting pictures every so often to his Instagram account.  I'm loving getting to see pieces of London, as experienced through my friend, again.

For an unplanned weekend.
I haven't had a free weekend for months, and while I do like staying busy, sometimes I like being lazy.  And this is one of those times. Lazy weekend, here I come!

For doing tasks that I dread doing, yet feel better afterwards because they're done.
This week those tasks were vacuuming the dog hair out of my car (you're welcome, back seat passengers of GeorgJetta) and mowing a lawn that was coming close to resembling a small forest.

It's day lily season!

They're early this year, but you won't hear me complaining!

For the song Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. 
I can't believe I just downloaded it yesterday. It is the best song to get you up and dancing.  I'm considering instituting a mandatory daily three-minute dance party for myself using primarily this song.  If you don't trust me on its dance-ability, perhaps you'll trust the Harvard baseball team who demonstrate the song's dance-ability admirably in this video:


Happy Thursday!