
I just returned from a short trip to Bangkok, Thailand for the APAIE Conference. The conference was successful. It is also really great to be able to travel with colleagues who have great vision for the future. We were able … Continue reading
I just returned from a short trip to Bangkok, Thailand for the APAIE Conference. The conference was successful. It is also really great to be able to travel with colleagues who have great vision for the future. We were able … Continue reading
Eek, weaknesses
I have many weaknesses that I need to overcome. Here they are, from most heinous to least (I guess):
– I enjoy smoking cigarettes.
– I like having a few drinks, or more.
– I’m overweight.
– I drink too many Diet Cokes.
– I live in the South thus am prone to eating pork fat-laden and/or cheesy foods.
– I have never been able to stick to an exercise regimen outside of running cross country and playing basketball in high school. Apparently I need someone yelling at me to exercise.
Let me address these one by one.
– Ahh, cigarettes. Yes, we know they are bad. I don’t even know at what point I became a smoker. It started when I felt the need to rebel my senior year of high school after all my sports obligations were over. I only smoked occasionally when I had drinks in college after that. Then came law school, and I guess that’s where it happened. During our orientation, we had a former coke head give a speech about the stress and the dangers that substance abuse can cause during and after law school. So, I stuck to cigarettes, not only because I’ve always been scared that if I tried something so illicit I’d end up like that girl in that Cheech and Chong movie who snorted Ajax. I’ll be honest, I like smoking cigarettes (especially with coffee), but I’m tired of smelling like smoke. I’m also tired of thinking about the toxins that come with every inhale. I have an electronic cigarette that I hope will help, although I haven’t given them up for good yet.
– I live in the same town in which I went to college. It is a small college town, where there are few options for socializing besides going to the bar. Having a few drinks for me always ended up being a lot, at least in college. Of course, this is probably the same for most people who went to college, but staying in the same town just makes you a lush. In the past few years, I’ve really cut back, and I’m proud. I also enjoyed being self-righteous, and abstaining from alcohol made me feel that way. This one is under control, where I only have some wine or beer once or twice a month. I’d like to find some more things to do that make me happy and let me socialize without the peer pressure. Yes, I still succumb to peer pressure anytime someone says “happy hour on a balcony?” It’s just what we do here.
– I am not happy with my weight. Ever since I got married, it’s like I didn’t have to worry about being attractive or something. My husband loves to cook, and he passed that along to me. Before him I would make cheese quesadillas with my quesadilla maker (which my husband donated because he hates appliances that aren’t multi-taskers) and eat black beans from a can. So, cooking and having drinks was a great and cheap way to have a date night. Of course I would find something incredible to make, which usually had lots of butter or cream, meat, and/or starch. Over the years, we have tried to become more frugal, and our diet revolves around cheap and easy things to eat. Thus there is a lot of meat with little vegetable variety. Boo. So, in the time since I got married, I have gained about 50 pounds. 50 pounds! Just the thought of me carrying around that much extra weight is disgusting to me. I also really love fashion, and I’d like to buy clothes that are in style, not just “flattering.”
– Diet Coke is my crack rock! I hope that I will be able to give them up entirely or maybe cut back to one a day. Fingers crossed!
– My diet is not great. I used to be a vegetarian. I’ve tried being vegan, but I love cheese so that didn’t stay for long. I lost a bunch of weight on the Atkins Diet after college, but I didn’t like the lifestyle. Living in the South and being surrounded by lots of buttery, cheesy goodness is also super tempting. I hope that this blog will be a way for me to talk about what diet (or lifestyle changes) I am able to stick with and maybe even share some successful recipes. I do love to cook!
– I remember liking being an athlete. I can say that I was actually an athlete. I liked lifting weights, I liked running although I was never very fast, and basketball was always a fun activity for my friends and me. However, I did them happily because I was on a team. I also didn’t have extra weight and did have others around me and coaches telling me to show up for practice. When I went to college, I took a high-impact aerobics class which I really didn’t like – I would have preferred to play basketball or something. I fell off the step during the first class (I was never super coordinated) so perhaps that has scarred me and kept me from group exercises since then. I need to devote myself to an exercise regimen that fits my schedule and is manageable. I want to try Couch to 5K – I have it on my phone and have tried it twice and given up twice. I would like to try P90X, since a former co-worker gave the exercises to me for free. Who knows, I might even try to start running 3+ miles again.
Inspiration
Self-preservation, obviously. See my first post.
My friend Evan started a blog a few months ago. He is on a mission for a new lifestyle, including eating better. He is an inspiration, and he has gotten so much positive feedback from others that I felt the need to talk about my own choices. I think I do need some help in that area – I know there are more of you out there with similar stories to mine.
I feel like these first two posts have been very self-centered. Sorry about that. But if this only serves as my own accountability gauge, it will be worth it. Plus, I’m a photographer so I hope there will be some nice photos on here soon.
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