Thankful days 4,5&6

Day 4:
Dan & Alice
I am very thankful for my brother, who is 6 years older than me, and his lovely wife who is 3 years older than me. My brother and to this day find very few things to see eye to eye about and yet when we really need each other, we are always there for one another. His wife is one of my very best friends. She is absolutely hysterical and we have a blast together! They have given me two (soon to be 4) wonderful nephews and I am so lucky to have them.

Day 5
Family
I have an extremely large extended family, my father is one of six boys and my mother is one of 11 children! All of them are married and have lots of kids who have lots of kids and we are just one huge group. I have so many people to love and who love me and it is such a blessing! I have a few cousins who are honestly my best friends whom I will bring up later this month!

Day 6
America
I am so thankful to live in a country where we have so many individual rights and so many opportunities! I feel so grateful to be a 27 year old single female with a job making equal pay to men who got time from work to exercise my right to vote. Our democratic nation is one i am so proud to live in.

November Thanks, Day 3

Day 3
Aidan, Gavin, and soon to be 2 more, aka my nephews!

Aidan is 7 and the love of my life. He is so loving and fun and I can't get enough of him! He's at an age where he is becoming bad and more aware but still holds his child like innocence. I can't wait to see him when I get home and follow up on our plans to see wreck it Ralph!

Gavin is 17 months and the cutest little guy you'll ever see. He is the happiest baby I've ever seen but I have lived in California for all of his little life so far and cannot wait to move home and watch him grow up!

In just 3 short months my sister in law is expecting twins, 2 more boys! A journey we are all looking forward to!

Being an aunt has been the most rewarding experience of my life and I can't imagine any role ill take with such pride!!

November Thanks

I am going to be thankful this month, I won't be able to do every day as I have a huge impending cross country road trip, but I will do my best to express my gratitude through the month of November.

Day 1:
My Parents.
I am beyond thankful for the amazing people I have been so incredibly lucky to call mom and dad, or mama and papa if you're me! I have learned so much from them throughout my 27.5 years and I could not be happier to now consider them my closest friends. They are always there for me and always know the right thing to do/say/suggest and on top of it, are funny as hell, party like rock stars and do good for themselves, their loved ones and strangers alike. If I am half the woman my mother is or half as caring as my father I will consider myself a huge success!

Day 2:
My Independence
I have already mentioned my supportive parents, and they have instilled in me the ability to succeed and stand up on my own an support myself and live my own life according to my own rules. We have a lot of friends and relatives who like to judge from afar, and they've taught me to not give a fuck what those people think, or what anyone thinks, and instead just be myself, on my own, succeeding. I am extremely independent and love at the end of the day to sit down and realize how much I accomplished on my own, it's such a comforting feeling. I don't need anyone but me to be the best version of myself, and I am so thankful for that.

Jesus Calling

So I have a few bill collectors, and I typically know the number to avoid...I get paid tomorrow, i'll take care of it Comcast, gimme a hot minute!  But yesterday I got a weird 800 number calling.  I did not answer it because I was at work and I typically do not answer unknown numbers anyway.

I forgot about it until I was about to go in to the movies yesterday and while waiting for my friends, I listened to the voicemail.

It was jesus.  NO FUCKING WAY, right?  I know.  I've been seeing this silly picture <-- all over the internet lately and it turns out, he really does have a cell phone!  He called to see what I have been up to and let me know I should join this prayer group and that even if I don't join, they will still be praying for me because I am in need of prayer. I don't like coming home to religious pamphlets shoved in my door jam but I really, really don't like them CALLING ME ON MY PERSONAL CELL PHONE!!  Who are these advocates that think it is okay to harass people into believing their beliefs?  It's absolutely blasphemous.

I saw The Campaign last night which was hysterical, and one quote said something like "my relationship with god is not measured by my attendance" and I thought that was so perfect.  Organized religion is almost laughable to me.

I hate where I live, you cannot go a single block without a church and a group of hypocritical extremists preaching to you.  I work with a group of people from one of the non-denominational churches and they are honestly pure evil.  Manipulative, lying, deceitful and a million other descriptive words but they are doing the work of god they always say.

And all of this on the heels of Todd Akin's ignorant statement that you can't get pregnant from legitimate rape, and other conservatives sticking up for him saying that you should not abort a pregnancy created from rape because God has blessed you with this baby.

If this God of yours is spreading hate through the people doing his work and condoning rape, he's just not really the guy for me.

I am so grateful for the blessings in my life and I know there is some form of a higher power out there, but I like to believe he's not down with rape or complete and total assholes using his name to push their negative agendas.

Either way, I'm gonna go ahead and hit decline on the phone call from Jesus, because solicitation is not cool.

Thinspiration Thursdays, Volume 3

I really am a horrible blogger, my bff Lee was right.  It's okay though, I will blog when I think of it. 

It's THURSDAY!  And we all know what that means, time to get thin!  I am so busting my ass this week.  I know it will be hard to sustain the rate of loss I had in July but I surely want to try my hardest!  I am looking forward to my weigh in Saturday so I can at least assess where I am!  I really hope to lose 1.2 this week, that will put me at 40 lbs even!  I will be so excited if this is the case!

This week, my thinspiration is this:

I literally have to have this yellow dress and I have to look good in it.  The size on the mannequin would be preferable. HaHa.  I realize that it is a long, long away and maybe even inconceivable (Princess Bride in the houseee) but I am giving it my all.  My main inspiration to get thin is for my health, but second of all I am hoping to be able to wear all of these fabulous clothes and never, ever, ever step foot in another plus size store again!

Keep the dream alive my friends! 

Thinspiration Thursdays: Volume 2

It's Thursday already!?  I feel like I was just going over my adoration and love for Endomondo and yet here we are again.

I had really high hopes for my weigh in on Saturday and somehow I only posted a -1.6 on the scale.  It was a huge setback, that was until I went to Kohls and bought the Nike Flex in hot orange/pink/red whatever color you want to call them and I fell madly in love!  These shoes are so amazing I can't get enough of them.  I got home on Saturday, ran in my new shoes, and went about my day, Sunday morning when I woke up, I instinctively weighed myself on my scale, and I was 4 lbs lighter than I was on my scale before my weigh in the day prior.  I don't know what the heck happened but now I am expecting to put up a big number Saturday and if I don't I will probably cry.

This weeks thinspiration thursday post is dedicated to Pinterest.  I cannot believe how ubelievably obsessed I have become with pinterest.  I am constantly on the app on my phone and when I get on the PC at home I instantly head to Pinterest.  It has really been a huge asset to me.  I have found some great workouts, and even better recipes on Pinterest.  Granted, there are quite a few recipes that could ruin a diet, but in general, I have been exposed to things I'd have never seen before.  I am doing a Kettlebell workout that I found on Pinterest and I really feel myself getting stronger.  It is amazing! 

If you are not on Pinterest yet, get out from under the rock you've been hiding under and check it out!  It has so many fabulous tools to keep you motivated!  Happy Calorie Burning, Friends!  See you next Thursday!

07.25.12

So here's the thing.... I have always loved my hair. Sometimes it was infuriating because it doesn't hold curl and sometimes I hated how fine it was, but in general, it has always been great to me. Then a bout of sickness caused me to lose my hair and I still suffer from alopecia areata and that sucks but again, overall, I have loved my hair. When my hair grew back, it lost some of its redness and was much more blah, and at 27 I have quite the amount of gray and I have to ask, what did I do to you, hair, that you have rebelled like so???

I began dying my hair blond and when the roots grow out the gray isn't as noticeable as when my natural color shines through. Naturally, I have always been a red head an I come from a family of red heads and that's just how it is.

Today, after my boss first said my hair "bugged" him, (my side bangs had fallen onto my forehead mid conversation) he proceeded to say "ohhhh that makes so much sense you are a natural red head!" and I asked "what does that mean" to which he sat quietly and responded "well the feistiness".

Seriously? What do you all think of stereo types? Am I really feisty because of my hair color? Is someone flighty because they are blond? That's ludicrous! All day I've just laughed at the blasphemy of the conversation.

If I am the stereotype of a red head, then I'm glad and maybe it's time I let my natural color fly because passionate and feisty are two things I am proud to be!

Red heads: unite!

Thinspiration Thursdays: Volume 1

If you head on over to Nicole's Blog you will find that we have both dedicated Thursday to our favorite topic: Thinspiration!  The term is annoying and cutesy like everything in pop culture and culture in general for that matter; but it's a very important topic. 

The picture to the left was taken of me in May when I was Maid of Honor in one of my closest friends weddings.  It was such an incredibly fun night and day and the dresses we wore were so forgiving that for one night, I almost forgot that I was the overweight bridesmaid.  This was not the first time, but hopefully, it will be the last time that I am the overweight bridesmaid.  There is nothing worse than standing next to a beautiful bride and a size 4 bridesmaid and looking like THAT <---. 

In April I joined Weight Watchers.  I honestly have never loved anything as much as I love my meetings.  I feel such a sense of support and comraderie there and every week I am posting numbers.  I weigh in on Saturdays; last saturday was my 11th weigh in and I have lost 27.8 lbs.  I am completely aiming to have my 90 day weigh in this Saturday be a total of 31 lbs.  I am averaging 10 lbs a month which to me; is perfect.   Weight Watchers is not my only assistance though, and this week, I am dedicating my Thinspiration Thursday to my favorite Mobile App.

Endomondo

Endomondo is a sports community based on FREE real time gps tracking of running, cycling, etc.  I use my app every single morning and push myself to walk/run no less than 3 miles.  I am completely in love with this app.  It has a pep talk at every mile and updates you your stats.  You are also able to add friends to your Endomondo and I have a few friends who can see when I am out walking and send me pep talks as well as comment on my activities.  It is a great community and an awesome way to motivate one another!  Here is an example of my screens from this morning and just a very small example of what this app can do!

 

I have got a long, long way to go until I reach my fitness and weight loss goals, and a lot of thinspiration thursdays to come.  I would love to hear from other folks on this journey and share some ideas back and forth so please feel free to comment or email me!  

7.17.12

So the thing is.... I am not the smartest person in the world. I am often times guilty of starting a sentence with a preposition and I have used the wrong form of your/you're in my day.  The difference is that I am aware of my short comings and I do my best to avoid them.  I also know what a preposition is which is far more than I can say for....well, most anybody these days. 

One of my absolutely biggest pet peeves in the entire world is when people use the word "seen".  It reminds me of bingo night in the trailer park.  STOP IT.  Please, for the love of God, stop saying "seen".  You did not seen him, you saw him.  It has been a long time since I was in any sort of educational system but if I recall correctly; seen should only be used in conjunction with have or has. It is so infuriating to me to receive emails from the higher ups in my company that say "Yes, I seen that." Do they not proofread? Or do they really not realize that they are using the most improper forms of the English language?  Either way it makes me want to die.

Now back to me being a hypocrite....my best friend, (who is a total dick and I love him dearly) always rags on me for saying "These ones".  I am fully aware it is not a proper sentiment and that saying "these" is plenty; but I hear this every where now.  I do my best to never say it because despite our 3000 miles apart I feel like he is stepping on a baby kitten just to spite me every time I say it.  And I care about the kittens! Everyone I work with says "These ones", I was working directly with the manager and Bed, Bath & Beyond looking for something and he said "Oh, these ones?" and now it is driving me crazy because it is so widely accepted as a proper statement.

I'm off on a tangent now and I am making no sense so let me get to the moral of this post.  If you are going to post something online; a job opening; something for sale, or anything on craigslist and you would like a mature, responsible, intelligent adult to respond....please proofread.

That is all.

Em

7.16.12

So that crazy hooker cousin of mine, Nicole, moved her blog back to blogger and gave me the incentive to also return. I had my own domain and blog for quite awhile but I of course sucked at updating it, partly because it's a lot of work, but mostly because I am completely and totally boring.

Since my last go round with blogger I have moved to California, taken a promotion at work, and all but gone completely insane in the process.  I thought it would be interesting to document my transfer and my new life, but it turned out to be far more boring than one would expect uprooting their life and moving 3000 miles away would be.  Not to mention, when you're filtering what you write about your work life on the internet, and your entire life is work, you basically become one giant blog of nothing. 

If you are awesome, which odds are, you are not, then you know exactly where my new blog title comes from.  For those of you a little less awesome; let me explain.  In one of my favorite (bad) movies, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Captain Kirk says "Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor".  It is a perfect sentiment for all things me right now.  So. There you have it. 

So you can feel free to read, or not read the new posts that will be full of inane babble, first world problems and complaints, and a lot of one sided and blinded arguments for everything going on in the world right now.

And while you're at it, check out Nicole's new blog too.  Because we're awesome. But somehow we're both still single... #thingsthatdontmakesense

Au Revoir,

Em