Mysterious Ways...

We all have people in our lives who have really helped shaped us into the men and women we are today, right? For me, I have so many I cannot even count. However, I want to tell you a bit about two of my uncles - Rod and Don

Uncle Rod is my godfather. I think that is what led to our special relationship. He and my aunt (my mom's sister) had no children. They were young and fun and really adored my sister and me.

I have some great memories of my Uncle Rod. Everything from riding the kiddy roller coasters at Fiesta Texas, to him sewing the pearl back onto my American Girl doll dress that broke, and he even carried me on his shouldars from the family room to the kitchen for some popcorn because their cat was too scary to walk by. Uncle Rod was fantastic.

My parents, sister, aunt and uncle and I went to Las vegas when I was in 6th grade. It was a great November.

My Uncle Rod passed away that February at the age of 39 from pneumonia. It was devastating. I was devastated. This man who I looked up to so much, my godfather, was taken from me - why did God let this happen? He never got to see me grow up - it still makes me so sad just to think about his passing.

One year after he passed away, my aunt was buying wedding invitations for her second marriage, to a man named Don.

I could have cared less about this man. Who did he think he was coming in and marrying my aunt? She had already found the love of her life - how dare he? I was never ever ever going to call him my uncle.

Let me just say my bitterness and anger that did not last long.

My Uncle Don is one of the most amazing men in my life. He is so incredibly compassionate and giving, always willing to talk about his short comings in order to make people understand their own struggles - I could not imagine my life not having him in it.

That is where the mourning process got really complicated for me. When I was younger I felt like I had to choose between these two men. Like I could not love them both. Over the years I have really come to understand that I don't have to choose.

Uncle Rod had the beginning of my life.
And Uncle Don has the rest.

And that is how God intended it.

For some reason, it was Uncle Rod's time to go - and I will never know why. But I am content with that. I don't know what type of relationship Uncle Rod and I would have had as I got older - but I can now accept the fact that it was a relationship that was never supposed to happen.

God definitely works in mysterious ways - and I am thankful everyday for that.

Skinny Bitches.

I feel skinny today. I know I am not. Probably haven't even lost any weight.

But I feel great.

Training

This weekend was great in terms of my training for the Avon Walk (75 days to go!). It is so nice having my co-worker L living so close. She is awesome motivation for me and keeps me walking.

On Saturday we walked for 8 miles on the path along the Potomac River. What an amazing place to walk! The walk was rough - don't get me wrong. But it was great walking and chatting with L and her friend C (they know each other from college). After walking with them, I had to run some errands - and walked an additional 2 miles. My goodness, I walked 10 miles in one day! I don't think I have ever done that before! It felt great. But I was so sore after wards. A nice hot shower, take out and a chick flick made for a great Valentine's Day.

On Sunday, day 2 called for some more training! I walked up to L's house and met her and C. It was time for our 6 miles trek around Alexandria. One of the best things about walking, is seeing all of the great little shops, coffee houses and restaurants in the area. I have never been to the Del Rey / Braddock Heights before. It was great. I love finding cute little places!

Day 2 was another rough walk. I feel so out of shape. L and C are great motivation for me. They keep up their "endurance" pace (13 minute miles!) I feel like such a slacker but am so glad I am walking with them. I then had to run some more errands and walked another 1.5 miles.

18 miles total for the weekend?!?!?! Oh my goodness. Beyond impressed with myself - and so excited to keep going!

Oh oh oh! I bought new running shoes today and I am soooo excited. They are so pretty and comfy (never thought I would be so excited about a pair of exercise shoes!) I am in love...




Oh, and the sale guy wasn't too bad on the eyes :-)

Dream.

My dream come true. John Legend. Josh Groban. Same stage. Singing. In front of me.



Ahhhhhhhhhh!


More to come from "We Are One" inaugural concert as well as the Inauguration parade.This weekend is at to an amazing start.

Yes We Can.

I cannot believe the time is almost here. This weekend. 1.20.2009. Oh my.

I am sure I will have lots of stories. Good and bad. I mean come on, I am wearing long underwear. How can that not bring stories?!?


I will leave you with a few will.i.am lyrics


It's been a long time coming
Up the mountain kept runnin'
Souls of freedom kept hummin'
Channeling Harriet Tubman

Kennedy, Lincoln, and King
We gotta maninvest in that dream
It feels like we're swimming upstream
It feels like we're stuck inbetween
A rock and a hard place,
We've been through the heartaches
And lived through the darkest days

It's a new day.





I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

A moment to Vent...

Dear Girl at work whose phone is too loud,

I realize it is cold -- for DC that is (as it is 20 degrees, and I am from the midwest). However, I think it is completely ridiculous that you took a cab to work today because you felt it was too far to walk from the Smithsonian metro to the office (ie. It is 2 blocks away).

I now know why this country is overweight (including myself) -- because behavior like that is acceptable. And you probably spent a good $15 on the taxi ride.

I thought you said you were from Ohio and NYC? You = ridiculous.

Have a great day,
Me

CHIPOTLE!

Okay, I am sure you are thinking to yourself -- "This girl is going to talk about Chipotle again?...Woah".

Well here is the thing. I really want Chipotle for dinner. Like really! Instead of holding myself back (which might lead to eating everything "semi healthy" in my apartment...I am going to allow myself this treat.

With one stipulation.

I knew there was a web site where I could figure out the caloric value of those massive burritos. It is so user friendly, and I played around on it for about 20 minutes at work deciding what I would allow myself to get.

First, of course I figured what my normal meal would be there (carnitas burrito, rice, tomato salsa, corn salsa, cheese and sour cream)....

And the total is.... 1140 calroies! Oh my gosh! WHAT!?!?!?!?

That is insane. Ridiculous. Mind boggling. The really scary part is that my choice burrito would be 135% of my daily sodium intake! Ugh!

Then I figured out what I could get that would be a "decent" amount of calories -- this way I would still get the yummyness, without the stomach crud feeling.

So, my option for tonight is ... 3 soft tacos (I can bring one to work!), tomato salsa, verde salsa, black beans, lettuce, cheese and even Guacamole! The new total is 675 calories.

Now I realize that is a lot...but I figure, I split it 2 ways (2 for dinner, 1 for lunch) it makes it not so bad. And I am trying something new, the green salsa always looked good but I never got it!

I will let you know how my adventure goes :-)

Darn You Headache!

I am currently experiencing my first negative side effect of this whole "losing weight thing". I decided a few days ago that one small change I could make, would be to eliminate some of the pop that I drink. I would regularly have a can of pop at lunch and a can of pop at dinner. If I ate out, I would probably have a few cans (darn you free refills!)

So I decided to cut back to one can a day. I try really hard to drink diet, but regular coke is so good! I started freezing my water bottle every night at work so I would have nice, cold H20 every day.

All in all I really have no complaints -- except for one -- I have the most excrutiating head aches ever. Obviously my body is reacting to this change in caffiene intake. Yesterday, I at lunch at 12:35 and at 12:40 the headache appeared. It was one of those "starts in your neck and goes to your eye...ugh!) I was hoping it was just a fluke.

Today, I at lunch at 12:05 and the headache appeared at 12:10. This is ridiculous. I am the type of person that NEVER gets headaches... ever! What's the deal?

Will-Power

I want you all to know after writing the last post... I debated the entire bus ride home whether or not I should go to Chipotle for dinner...however, I resisted!

I even got off the bus at the Chipotle stop and walked home...figured I could use the extra 7 blocks :-) I did get Sushi from Balducci's (but I had a gift card so that doesn't count as really money...right???)

New things!

Avon Walk Training Day 3

I like to shop. Is that a suprise? Probably not. I decided that I am going to treat myself to a few new things (healthly things!) to help me train for the Avon Walk -- and to pump up my excitement. I am already excited, don't get me wrong, but I can just image about Mid-March I will not be jumping for joy! We all have those moments, and I am being proactive now.

I know I probably should not be spending money. I get it. I work for a non-profit (which I adore), I pay way too much money for my apartment that is smaller than my cubicle, and I eat out way too much...so you might ask where this money is going to come from to buy these new "healthy things".

So here goes. I have an addiction. I am trying to work through it. I find myself dreaming of this all day long. I only have to walk 7 blocks to get some. I have done these twice in one day before. And I do as much as I can in one sitting. What is this weird addiction you might ask...

CHIPOTLE. Ah I love this place! I pretty much

each there once a week. I order the exact same thing every time. I am getting hungry for it right now. I can pretty much taste the corn salsa. Yum. Though I have come to learn a few things..

1. Althought Chipotle is great fresh ingredients, the burritos tend to be a ridiculous amounts of calories --(Like 2,000!!!)

2. I normally spend $8-$9 a visit...--that adds up!

3. I have a hard time NOT eating the entire thing in one sitting -- ugh. gross. (And yes, I ate that entire thing above!)

So this is my new goal. For everytime I do not eat carnitas tacos (yum) Out of 4 (my monthly average!) ...I will put $8 a side to put towards a new pair of athletic shoes. I need a good pair if I am going to walk 40 miles, right? I think this will be a good investment -- but I have to set goals for myself.

I even picked out the ones I want! So pretty!

Oh and here is the new pedometer that I bought on Amazon. I hope it comes soon. I can't wait to see how much walking I do.

I am going to do some major walking this weeknd...4 day long weekend! Walking from Rosslyn to the Inauguration should be a joy! Have any tips for me?!?! Would love all the support I can get :-)

Yummy!

Day 2 of Avon Walk Training!

Don't you just love when you find new yummy treats? I know I do...

I spent my Sunday being some what productive this weekend. I made a trip up to my favorite grocery store (Trader Joes!). It is about 2/3 of a mile each way, so I think that deserves a bit of a treat, don't you? Well I was browsing the aisles...and I came across their brownie and cake mixes. Yum, bingo! I saw something called "No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix". Now I don't know about you, but my first thought was about how this stuff probably tasted like sand. Or dirt. JUst grossness. But I figured I should give it a try. So I bought the mix and some fat free vanilla yogurt (that's all you add!) and I was on my way home.

I walked home on this beautiful crisp day, unpacked my goodies (I bought lots of things that I will be taking to the Inauguration with me as I am going to get hungry and I don't want to spend $20 on a gross hotdog...) ie. Fruit leather and cliff bars! I ate some lunch, left over mac and cheese and a lean cuisine...lame I know. And then I pulled out the brownie mix.

The coolest beyond coolest thing is on the box...for people like me who can eat an entire pan of brownies in one day (and will!) there are directions for single serving brownies! Amazing!

2 Tbsp No Pudge mix
1 Tbsp fat free vanilla yogurt
Mix together until smooth and shiny. Pop in the microwave for 1 minute. Top with fro-yo or cool whip free.

So tasty! I love finding new treats, what have you found?

On your mark.

Alright so here we go ... I have been determined (sort of) lately to lose weight. I know, everyone says that, right? Well, I think it is about time. There is no reason that I am 22, live near an urban area, do my own grocery shopping -- and am overweight. I often times walk past the cute clothes stores (Banana Republic, Lilly Pulitzer, Ann Taylor) and just dream about fitting into the clothes in the window. Don't get me wrong, I shop at the "average" size stores, but obviously something that fits a size 2 won't necessarily look decent on me. So I am ready for a change!

So what is the plan you might ask... well, a group of people at work are putting together a team for the annual Avon Walk taking place May 2-3. This event involves walking a total of 40 miles in two days around the great city of Washington DC - and raising $1800 a piece before the event.

My first thought (and probably yours too) was 40 miles? Are you kidding me? That seems like a ridiculous amount... I mean I could walk from my hometown to Cleveland in 40 miles...geez. They expect me to do that? In two days? They = Crazy.

But then I got to thinking - I need some motivation to get off my a** and start walking. What better way to start? This is for a great cause and I am incredibly excited.

I guess I need to put together a plan. After some great conversations filled with support from my family and friends, I am ready to get started. I even bought a pedometer minutes ago to keep track of my training progress. I have 4.5 months to prepare for this wonderful weekend that raises money for Breast Cancer awareness.

I plan on using this blog to post about my progress in training and fundraising as well as the hurdles I experience on this path. Are you ready?

Ready. Set. Go.