Hello

So this has been a traumatic week in my life. An ER visit and then a horrible follow up visit. It was the kind of week where it can drive you to drink and that is exactly what I would have done except I am taking medications and like a good patient I will not mix meds and liquor no matter how tempting. (That was a very long run on sentence). But I am making this posting short because the meds I take make me so sleepy and I am getting up early to go hiking with Caleb :) But life besides medical complications is pretty good.

I am listening on tape to the Five Love Languages and unofficially my language is "Quality Time". I feel the most loved when people spend time with me. The more I think about this one I waver because there are times when I detach myself from others or isolate from others and that makes me happy. Or maybe that is my love language but I am just not fluent in the language yet. I don't know. But of all of the five love languages that is the one that I can clearly identify for myself so even if I am not very fluent in that language it is still mine. It has me thinking about the love languages of my friends and family. Granted this book is written by a marriage counselor so it is for couples but it can be applied to all relationships.

Well I am getting tired with each word I write so I must go. I just wanted to keep my word and write a posting every week. Until I write in you again.....

Feeling blah blah but still going on

So it is another day and I am doing well enough I guess. Feeling very stressed and having some eye twitchings which is never good but hey I am still working out which is always helpful.

I don't have much in the term of updates but hey anything is better than nothing right?!?! I saved $20 more which puts me at a little over $200 saved so slowly but surely I will hit the $500 mark.

I purchased 3 more yummy bottles of wine, my favorite being a red wine called Middle Sister which is suposedly the best blend of all of the reds -per their advertisement. I never had it before but it just seemed like a perfect addition to my wine collection family :) And being the middle sister I gotta support anything that is a tribute to us.

Ummm, I ended up gaining some weight this week which was to be expected considering that my food intake was pretty bad and I drank alot more this week. Darn you Woodchuck, so yummy yet so full of calories. Hey, remember me saying that it has been stressful? I gained between 0.2 to 0.6lbs (it really depends on where the scale was situated) so not bad, but not what I wanted to see stepping on the scale.

I am also reading book #3, well #4 because I am still reading The Lucifer Effect at the same time. This new book is by David Sedaris called Me Talk Pretty One Day. It is one of the books from my friend Kara's book club and I decided to read it because I am planning on going to the book club meeting in June. I originally was going to go in October but I figured since I am reading my books faster than I thought why not read a book that will be discussed sooner than October?

As for my budding romance (should I even call it that?!?!?) Caleb did make me smile this week in that he is planning this hiking trip for me. Next week we are going to Hocking Hills to hike Old Man's Cave and then have a picnic. This was probably one of the best news I got. He is truly a great guy that I enjoy being around. It is actually scary at times but with me not letting my anxiety take over I am enjoying this scary & unpredictable ride. I really want him to meet my friends but I don't wanna rush anything either. So as I said I will just play it by ear and enjoy our time together.

Thinking of him reminds me of this which is from one of my friends who posted this as her Facebook status. I just thought it was awesome and beautiful. Find a guy who calls U beautiful instead of hot, will lie under the stars & listen 2 ur heartbeat, will stay awake just 2 watch U sleep, wants 2 show U off 2 the world when ur in sweats, holds ur hand in front of his friends, thinks ur just as pretty w/o makeup on. One who constantly reminding U of how much he cares & how lucky he is is 2 have U...The 1 who turns 2 their friends & says, "that's her". Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I wish this person for everyone. Who knows maybe I found mine?!?! Oh isn't that a lovely thought.

I guess this is all for my update. Not much but still making progress and having fun along the way. Until I write in you again....

Happy Thursday

So today is a good day so far. I weighed myself (I typically do so on Monday) because I was curious of my weight and I lost 2.4lbs. I am so excited with my progress. All of my pants are fitting very well, I just need to work on toning the rest of my body. I finally brought a replacement DVD player (can not believe that it was $30) and so now I am going to start doing my workout DVDs again. I did enjoy doing them before I broke my player and can't wait to get back into the swing of things. This weight loss is really motivating me because I am doing it for myself. I want to look better, feel more energized and wear clothing that make me feel good. To date, I have less than 13lbs to lose to reach part of my goal (losing 20lbs by 30).

The trick is not losing the weight but keeping it off. I have lost plenty of weight before, but after a while I tend to pack it on and then some. January of this year was actually the most I have ever weighed in my life. I look at pictures of my younger years and just am in shock because I was super skinny yet I never thought I was. My poor self esteem. But even though I still have a good deal more to lose, I am happy with my body, not ashamed. Who knew that I would ever say that?!?!

As for my marathon training, on Monday I ran for over 60 mins which distance wise totaled 4.35 miles. I am both proud and sad with that. I am proud that I ran nonstop even though the movie at the gym was not that action packed. I feel sad because my mph is less than I would like for it to be. Granted I know that I am still new to training and that I am being hard on myself, but I would like to be able to run at least 5mph. But I still have until September 26th to get things in gear so I am gonna be positive and say yes I did it and I can do it better with more practice :)

I guess that is pretty much all of the new updates. I need to start sending out the handwritten letters of appreciation to my family and friends. Oh, today I am working on my doctoral portfolio so hopefully by next week I can write a nice update on that.

Well, I guess that is all for now. In conclusion, I am in a good space right now. Life is treating me good and as always, God is beautiful. Until I write in you again...

7 month mark

So hello and welcome to the recap of my journey. It has been one month since I created this blog and officially published my 30 things to do before 30. Today is just my way of holding myself accountable and sorta freaking out because I will be 30 in seven months (oh my word).

I have continued training for the marathon. I have been pushing myself in the running department which has been really good for me. I am about to take the running to the outdoors now, because let's face it, running on the treadmill is not the same as outdoors. I have yet to rerun for 45 minutes without stopping but I did run 33 minutes without stopping during an interval run where I ran for 2 mins with no incline and then 2 mins with 3.0 incline and so forth. It was such a workout that I was officially pooped. I figured 33mins was still good and hey, maybe if I did not do it on the interval program I could have done longer. Well I will push myself this week and see how it goes.

I brought a pretty black and white dress yesterday. That brings my update of my wardrobe to 2 outfits. I was going to buy more but I am trying to wait til I go on all of my planned vacations because their is nothing better than buying new clothing while away. Besides since I am still working on losing weight, I am taking my time purchasing clothes. To date, I have lost 4.8lbs of the needed 20lbs, so GO ME!!!

I have made so much progress with not letting my anxiety take over. Granted sometimes it still does, but for the most part I am going with the flow. I have seen this guy for over a month now and it is kinda scary, exciting and wonderful all at the same time. I am taking big chances and so far reaping the benefits ;)

I have paid off one credit card, and working on paying off a second one. I have not saved anymore money so what I last posted it what is still saved so at least that is better than not having anything saved. I do get paid from asap this week so I will save at least $20. I purchased my final bottle of Riesling putting me at needing 9 more bottles of wine to have a completely stocked wine bar.

I have attended an cultural fair at the Cincinnati Museum Center which was awesome and I finished reading 2 books. The second one being Gods behaving badly by Marie Phillips. It was so good and such a refreshing twist on the Greek Gods. I laughed out loud several times and kinda want to buy it, but I have so much more things to purchase on my list that I will hold off til later. I am reading The Lucifer Effect, but due to some of the ugliness of it, I am reading another book to just lift my spirits for a bit. So today or tomorrow I am going to start another book. This goal was much easier than I originally planned, so that makes me happy.

The last thing that I have done is signed up to take an art class at a local cultural center down from where I live. They have yet to cash the check so I am not sure if I can say that I am enrolled in an art class but hopefully soon it will be cashed therefore my participation is official.

Well these were all of the things that I done in a month. I am looking forward to many more accomplishments and adventures on my way from being 29 to 30. Until I write in you again.....

It feels good to be back

So for church we were challenged to give up some form of the media. Since I have given up tv before (roughly 3 years ago) I decided to give up the internet. With me it seems that it is always go BIG or go home. But it was just something that I felt needed to be done. A week later, today is my re-emergence to the cyber world and it feels good. The down side is that I have already noticed that my productivity at work has left me. Granted I still have not gone on Facebook or checked my email so I guess this fasting of the internet has made somewhat of an impact.

This challenge has really made me see how much my life revolves around the internet and I know that I am not the only one. But I will only focus on myself and if you the lovely readers out there see yourself in my struggle just know that your not alone. So giving up the internet was awesome and horrible at the same time. I loved not being a slave to my phone and not updating my status or checking some nonsense online. Before this challenge, everytime I would get an email my phone would beep and like the dogs salivating at the sound of the bell, I would instantly reach for the phone, be it in a meeting, class, work, driving, cooking where and whatever. But for one week when my phone beeped, I ignored it. I lived my life and time did not end. It was so freeing. But everything in the world interested me and it was so hard not to look it up. I found myself fascinated by random things that before April 30th (the start of the challenge) was deemed insignificant but without internet my mind craved knowing information. I just think it was funny.

Too add more media freedom to my life, on Monday the 3rd I gave up tv for a week. Granted I prepared my DVR to record all of my shows as scheduled but I have been tv free and internet free at the same time. Talk about being a glutton for punishment. Granted I still had my lovely two plus hour conversations with Caleb, but without tv you would not believe how much sleep, cleaning and reading I got accomplished. I had some strong urges to watch tv though, because I am only human but as of today I still have not watched tv.

I don't know why tv is so much harder to give up then internet. During my internet free week, I wanted to go online, wanted to check the messages on my phone but I refrained and was okay with it. But with tv, I just look at the screen and my hand is reaching for the remote. I had to wonder if I would be cheating if I played Wii because that is technically not watching tv right?!?!? See the addict brain is so conniving but I still have not played Wii so I am sticking to my guns. But today is Friday and I only have to battle through the weekend. I can do it, I can do it. Now I am planning on filling my weekend with activities so that I don't realize how much I miss tv. Maybe since I have the internet the tv won't have such a big pull on me. I guess we will see about that. Anyways, hi blog, I have maintained my writing in you weekly so I accomplished something. Well until I write in you again....