Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Holy Brit-gasm, Glee!


If you watched Glee last night you know what I am talking about. Ahhhhhhh-mazing! I love the concept of the performances happening in fantasy land which enabled them to completely re-enact the video to a T. Also, the added bonus of John Stamos rocked my world. The thing that caugh me most off guard did not happen in the episode, it happened on my couch.

Mind out of the gutters, please.

During the first performance by Brittany S. Pierce in her fantasy, JB says "It makes sense they would use her, she is the best dancer on the show. Her and Mike Chang have the best moves."

Um...WTF?

How does he notice this? I hardly ever pay attention to the background people during the show. Although I am glad that they are giving Brittany more speaking lines because she is ruh-tarded and makes me LMAO on the regular.

Here is the string of Brit-Brit's tweets during the show and I couldn't agree with her more:

"Getting ready to watch GLEE! I'll be tweeting along with the episode." -Brit

"Awww Heather Morris is sooo cute! Brittany S Pearce. Ha! She was so fun to work with and was really sweet in person."

"John Stamos is still hot! He looks the same as he did on Full House."

"I like Kurt's bow tie. Bow ties are sexy..."

"I hate anesthesia!"

"Slave: Oh...My...God...!"

"Those little boys are SO cute!"

"I know how hard it is to dance with that snake! Nice job...."

"The Me Against The Music set looks just like the original. Santana does a great Madonna impression."

"Watching Baby brings back so many memories! Feels like yesterday...."

"That's a serious afro ya'll!""Kurt wears some pretty fabulous outfits."

"Jane Lynch scares me."

"I love this version of Stronger. Artie did a great job."

"The GLEE version of Toxic is amazing!"

"Jane Lynch is hilarious and scary all rolled into one."

"Rachel has a beautiful voice."

"I loved it! Thank you guys SO much for making this happen!"

Well done, Glee. Well done.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Aspire to Inspire

A couple of weeks ago I attended a conference put on by the Sacramento Area Human Resources Association (SAHRA). The title of this blog was the theme of the conference and boy was it inspirational! The keynote speaker was a Filipino woman named Sonia Aranza. It's funny that I feel this sort of connection to Filipino people now even though JB is only half Filipino. I obviously had to text him immediately after she mentioned her place of origin.

Sonia opened the conference with a presentation about self-leadership. Whether it was the hormone cycle, or the way in which her words reached me, I found myself fighting back tears several times during the hour she was speaking. I took some notes from the presentation and thought I would share them with everyone here so you can take something from them as well.

Confront your self-limiting beliefs

These can be physical, emotional, spiritual, or educational, but they all have one thing in common; you are letting them hold you back from your full potential.

After elaborating on this, she gave each of us a couple of minutes to pair up with someone near us that we did not know and share (within our comfort level) one self-limiting belief. I shared that in my organization, the majority of management are middle-aged white males, and I think being a woman in my (late) twenties keeps me from realizing my full potential here. I am overcome by self limiting beliefs that they don't think I am capable or they don't take me seroiusly, so I avoid interacting with them until absolutely necessary. They only find out how capable I am when they have to come to me with an issue. Whether or not this is really the case, in my head it is very true and I need to work past that.

She mentioned that fear can be an acronym for two things:

Face Everything And Run
or
Face Everything And Recover

The first one delays progress and compounds the work you need to do. Progress moves at the speed you choose, so choose to recover instead of run.

Then she quoted the Harvard Busines Review by saying that our habits of thinking are the greatest predictor of our success.

Create Your Own Luck!

I have been saying this since I left the conference. JB said something once that really stuck with me, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." He has been very good about aligning himself with the right people to get his career headed down the path he wants it to go, preparing himself to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise. Some notes from Sonia:
  • The harder you work, the luckier you get
  • There is nothing you can change except YOU
  • Those who are successful pursue their success
  • We teach people how to treat us
  • Success moves at the speed of relationships

Now, maybe you know some people who just sat around the house and didn't bother to put any work into bettering themselves that got this amazing opportunity one day and became crazy successful, but I don't. The people I know that are successful have pursued it. Making contacts, taking classes, pursuing interests, building relationships. Success isn't like a Jehovah's Witness. It doesn't just come around knocking on your door while you are sitting there in your underwear in front of the computer or the television eating cold pizza for breakfast and ask you to enjoy it's wonderfulness. Get your ass up and create your own luck!

Again, after elaborating, she gave us a couple of minutes with a different person to share (within our comfort level) one thing we would do to create our own luck, whether it be personal or professional. This came at an appropriate time as just the day before I had called and made an appointment to start seeing a counselor (therapist, whatever). No matter what anyone says, I know there is a better me in there and I know there are things that I can work on to make me better for my significant other, my friends and family, and myself. Even possibly a future child. Did it feel weird sharing this with a total stranger? Kind of. But comfort zones don't really get us very far.

Be Intentional!

You are more substantial than you know. Every action, word, decision - no matter how small - impacts someone else. Be intentional in those actions and decisions because they are more important than you think. Steer the canoe in the direction you want it to go, don't just let it toss about in the waves.

Those were the three points she touched on and then she closed with this:

Our Deepest Fear
By Marianne Williamson


Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

Word to your mother.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

The Book

After my rant about Biggest Loser I had a couple of people asking what book I was referring to that helped educate me on nutrition and get me started on my path to my fitness goal, so here it is:


It has great information about nutrition, recipes using the power foods, and workouts to get you started. I loved it. Hopefully it will help you too.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Biggest Loser is Back! (Rampant Ranting)

JB and I loooooooove Biggest Loser. With him being a fitness professional and me having a newfound interest in fitness and nutrition in recent years, this is like porn for us. Last night I noticed something different though. I used to have so much sympathy for these people, but last night while watching Tuesday nights premiere, I was getting angry.

The first thing I got angry about was the ages of most of these contestants. The fact that 22-27 year olds are that big makes me mad. It makes me mad at their parents for killing them (knowingly or not) from birth to age 18 and it makes me mad at them for not breaking the cycle once they are old enough to make their own choices. It makes me mad at the food industry for promoting foods that are toxic and poisonous. But nothing pissed me off more than the guy who takes 8 different pills for diabetes and shoots himself full of insulin before a meal and then eats a FUCKING PIZZA!!!! I don't know that I cuss on here often because I like to keep this open to all ages, but that's how mad I am about this.

I say to JB, "I know that we are not overweight, but we hear what poeple say and read the information for ourselves that this stuff is killing us. And yes, processed cheese foods, fried foods, and other high fat/high carb/high calorie foods are gawd damn delicious. But we make the choice, as hard as it may be, to avoid those foods most of the time. We haven't seen the effects (aside from a couple of lbs here and there) that these foods can actually have, we have only read about them, and we still make the choices to avoid them. These people choose to kill themselves on a daily basis. I just don't understand."

He reminded me that it's easier for us because we have seen the rewards that these choices can offer. We also believe in ourselves and know that if we set a goal, whether it be muscle gain or weight loss, we can most likely acheive it. We have people around us that believe in us; support systems.

I get that, and that's great for us, but I call bullshit.

YOU are the only one that can make a choice to do something or stop doing something. YOU make the choice to say "I've been good all day, I can stuff my face at dinner." or "Just one twinkie/hostess/ding dong/bag of doritos/plate of orange chicken won't kill me." What's one more? YOU are the only one that can ultimately stop the cycle. We justify our decisions to make ourselves feel better about making what are ultimately bad choices. And they aren't bad because I am judging you for them, they are bad because they are killing you! Whether anyone else thinks you are doing the wrong thing or not, YOU are the one that is going to pay for it.

I honestly don't understand how people can see something truly work for someone and say, "that will never work for me." Why not? How often have you heard someone say "Eat right and exercise. That's all you have to do." and then think , well, I tried that and look where it got me. It doesn't happen overnight. There are no pills, superfoods, special concoctions, magic potions or apparatuses that are going to make anything happen in a few days or weeks. It takes a few months to see major changes and this stupid society that is built on instant gratification never sticks around long enough to see the results. They just give up and go back to McDonald's for another cheeseburger, large fries and DIET coke.

People that are as big as the contestants on TBL think that they need this miracle because they could never do it on their own. But doing it the way they do it isn't all that healthy either. It's a good start, a good foundation. Learning about nutrition and exercise is a great start, but most of these people are so emotionally damaged that they also need psychological help to work through all that so they don't go home and eat their feelings (said in the nicest way possible). I like that they had past contestants help with the visits to the different cities, but not all of the past contestants have been able to maintain the weight they went home with, because they don't have the complete package. And ultimately when they get home and there isn't someone there stocking their pantry and fridge with the good foods and screaming at them in the gym for 8 hours every day, it's not as convenient anymore. My friend's blog touches on self-motivation a bit here.

Some of you might be thinking, this skinny bitch has no idea what she is talking about. Or maybe you think I have something against people that are overweight and think they are all lazy or stupid or something. I can tell you, that is not the case. Everything I have written about above, I have done (okay, I have never been morbidly obese). I used to come home from high school after not having eaten all day and eat 20 pizza rolls in one sitting. Or maybe a can of spaghetti o's and a bag of cheese puffs (NOM). Some Tostitos and queso, that's a meal, right? In the summer I would walk to the nearby McDonald's with my $3.22 and get a #2 (2 cheeseburgers, medium fry, coke) and stuff my face with it before I walked home. Breakfasts consisted of pop tarts and sugary cereals. Delicious, right?

My generation is the original processed generation. Less parenting, more food in cans and boxes, TV dinners. Once I stopped being an active kid/teenager, and had my own paycheck to buy my own insert name of major/minor fast food chain here I did for pretty much every meal. I gained the freshman 15, and dating someone at the time who couldn't gain weight if he tried made me eat worse and feel fatter than I probably looked. I can't say I have a healthy body image even to this day.

But one day, about three years ago, I saw a picture of myself that made me realize that I needed to be healthy. I thought I was doing the right things. I would go to the gym here or there, have a salad when I ate out, some of the things people who are trying to "change their lifestyle" instead of diet, do. I bought a training package, and a couple of books, and I got to work. Most of the books out there are still marketed towards those folks looking for instant gratification, but the one I found actually had great information in it. Not only about what I should be eating, but what those other foods I should be staying away from were actually doing to my body. Knowing these things made my choices easier. It took a while, but I started to notice a change in my body. I thought I had made a lot of progress, and maybe I had, but I still didn't like the way I looked in pictures. So I kept going.

I had to realize that eating out is not going to get me where I want to be. Even if you think you are making a good choice, you can make a better one at home and actually know what you are eating. Alcohol has to go. When you realize how many calories are in a beer or a glass of wine it makes it easier to say "why would I want to have 3 of those? That's an hour of cardio." It's not forever, it's just what you need to realize to attain the goals you have. I'm not saying it's easy to make these choices or that I enjoy going to the gym every day (some days, but not every day). But I also know that I used to be a person that didn't think I could do it. I failed PE in high school because I hated running, for crying out loud. Eventually (2 years later), I got there. And it's a struggle to stay there if you don't have a good foundation.

Educate yourself about the choices you make when you put things in your body. It definitely might change the way you eat without a ton of effort. You just might start to notice a difference. And that might motivate you even more. Change the cycle from a vicious one to a healthy one and out The Biggest Loser out of business.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Wishful Wednesday

I don't usually do these, but it just so happened that this morning on my drive to work I had the same thought I have most mornings:

I wish I could be a housewife/house-GF (note I did not say SAHM...yet)

I know, I think most of us would rather not work if we didn't have to, so I am not alone in this. Some people actually don't know what they would do without going to work every day. When I have had this conversation with others, they can't imagine what they would fill their day with.

Well, I do.

I would rise when my body was ready and well-rested. I would enjoy my coffee and a healthy breakfast while watching the morning news and catching up on facebook and google reader. I would begin daily household chores and depending on necessity, plan the week's meals and prepare a shopping list. I would go to the gym for at least an hour, maybe two. On the way home I would stop by the store with my list and then head home for lunch, or maybe get ready to go have lunch with a friend or family member. I would return home and finsish up any chores and then begin preparing dinner. I would try fabulous healthy recipes and the time needed to make them wouldn't matter because I would have all the time in the world. Dinner would be ready by the time JB walked in the door and after eating and talking about our day, he would help me clean the kitchen and we would settle into our places on the couch for our evening of relaxing together.

That's what I would do. And I would love every minute of it. This may surprise some of you that know me as this independent woman that doesn't need a man to take care of her. But that's not really what is happening in this scenario. Sure he is working to pay our bills, but I am taking care of us the old fashioned way that people have strayed away from. I am keeping myself (because really JB couldn't care less) mentally healthy with a clean house, and physically healthy with daily workouts. I am keeping both of us healthy with our homecooked meals because I have the time to shop and plan and find the bargains that allow us to eat organic and well-grown foods without breaking the bank.

Who says you have to have children to stay home? Sure, it gives you an actual reason to stay home instead of people just thinking you are too lazy or unqualified or unmotivated to go to work. Not to mention, starting the SAH thing before kids will make it easier to adjust spending habits and things of that nature before you have a child. Some people plan for one of the parents to stay home and they save for a long time before they execute their plan, but we will never have enough money...ever. Not in America where everyone is too focused on keeping up with the ______s to realize that success isn't always about how much you have.

Okay, now I'm just rambling. But seriously, if we were in a position to make this happen, I would be all over it in a heartbeat. Until then, we will just focus on making it a priority in case we have a child someday.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Future-Wifey Of The Year

Sunday, JB got up at the butt-crack of dawn (6:45am) for god knows what reason. I continued my hibernation as most normal people would on a weekend with no plans. He came in at 8am to tell me that he was going to go to the gym, but I wasn't really feeling that well, so I decided to stay in bed for a while. As I knew he would, he called me on his way home to ask if I needed anything and I requested my grande skinny hazelnut latte for delivery. He asked if I would get the breakfast stuff out so we could get started upon his return.

I took it upon myself to not only get everything out, but time the pancakes, eggs, and sausage so perfectly that I had just finished plating our food when he walked in the door. And of course I had turned on the pregame show for football and also set both channels so all he had to do was press "last" to get to the other game. This alone provided the coveted title of "future-wifey of the year" according to him.

But I didn't stop there.

JB is not the most technologically (okay, maybe common sense) savy person and as soon as the game began, he was running back and forth from the couch to the office to check is ridiculous fantasy football stats. I reminded him that the laptop was right there on the bar and he could just use that instead of running back and forth. He then began moving back and forth between the couch and the bar. I then showed him that the laptop is actually mobile, and moved it over to the couch where he was sitting. He was in heaven!

After I got him all set up with that, I headed off to do the grocery shopping. When I have the time, I actually enjoy grocery shopping and I would rather do that than hear him yell at the tv, so off I went. I got all of the staples and then some stuff to try a couple of new recipes. I returned home and made some banana-chocolate chip muffins that I cannot recommend. They definitely tasted like they were good for you. In fact, I won't even bother posting the recipe here. But for dinner, I made a recipe one of my friends had just sent me that I can't recommend enough:

Feta Chicken Burgers
  • 1lb uncooked ground chicken or turkey breast
  • 1 tbsp fresh oregano
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 7 tbsp feta cheese, crumbled
  • 4 sandwich thins
  • Jar of roasted red peppers
  • Small can of sliced olives
  • 4 leaves of red leaf, green leaf, or romaine lettuce

Preheat grill or broiler

In medium bowl, combine meat, cheese, oregano, and garlic powder and mix well. Divide mixture into 4 balls and flatten into patties.

Grill about 7 or 8 minutes each side

Serve on bun topped with peppers, olives and lettuce.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Weekend Wrap Up - Labor Day Edition

I stole the "weekend wrap up" title from Mrs. Awesome, but she probably got it from somewhere else anyway. :)

For the first, okay 2nd, time in a while JB and I had an entire weekend without plans. And we actually planned it that way. Wait, does that mean we had plans? Dammit. Here is a rundown of our 3 day weekend of domestic bliss:

Saturday:
  • Farmer's Market
  • Visit the new Hanft residence (so cute!)
  • Lunch at Mr. Pickles (my first experience and it was amazing)
  • Quick visit with the Emersons to pick up JB's charger that he left there after his FF draft sleepover
  • Had DC and GF over for dinner. Used the grill for the first time all summer (go figure) to make kabobs
  • Double date with them to see Going the Distance. It was cute, and funny, and male friendly.

Sunday:

  • Starbucks Sunday for breakfast
  • Car wash (first wash she has had all year)
  • Gym. We made it just in time for me to go to Zumba!
  • Lunch at Blue Nami (JB loved it)
  • Got JB fitted for his tux for his friend's wedding next month
  • Nap
  • Blockbuster and burger night (used the grill 2 nights in a row!)

Monday:

  • Yummy breakfast of blueberry pancakes, eggs and turkey sausage
  • Cleaned out garage so we can now park 2 cars in there
  • Cleaned out and organized JB's side of the closet (mine is always that way)
  • JB mowed the lawn while I supervised
  • Nap
  • JB went to the driving range with the neighbor
  • Visited with the neighbors for a while
  • Ended the night/weekend with MBR Monday!

It was a lovely weekend. I'm glad we got that over with because September is going to be a busy month. A couple of weekends out of town and birthday parties to attend. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

What a Croc!

Gotta love my mom. She is cool enough to have an iPhone 4 and know pretty much how to use it, but she is just mom enough to find this to put it in:




Oh yeah, that's a croc, like the hideous supposed-to-be-for-gardening-only shoes, but it's a cell phone case. She wanted me to make sure to get the side view so you could see it's authentic:




See the croc emblem? Sigh....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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