My Joints Are A Bunch of Haters

Dear My Left Knee-

Stop being such a mamby pamby. It was only four miles...don't even act like you've never seen that much action before. I know you're a whore for the road, so stop acting like you don't like it when the road gives it to you rough. What? Did you think that you could just repose at a desk chair all day and be fine? Well think again! You have 8-hours of waitressing in front of you, so pull it the eff together!

I have my eye on you,
Christina

Dear My Right Hip-

Stop immitating Left Knee. She's not going to pay attention to you just because you think it's cool to copy her. Cease and desist immediately or I will never take you dancing again.

You have been forwarned,
Christina

Great Success!

I did it!!!! I woke up at 5:30 this morning and actually went running!!!!

I apologize for the excessive exclamation points, the endorphins are still pumping pretty strong. Endorphins really DO make you happy and I am overflowing with them right now. (I had to hold back on yet another exclamation point. I really am becoming my own worst enemy.)

Last night was fantastic, despite having to cut short sailing time and being a half hour late to the class at New Life Christian Center (amazing awesomeness extraordinaire). After arriving back home, I treated myself to some mindless TV watching (Man Vs. Food, why do you make a nine pound pile of meat and fries look so appealing?)



I'll have a side of coronary with that...and...godzilla??

 The virtual food coma was too much for me to handle, so I immediately fell asleep....by 9:30. Awesomeness. But, it really was because that meant that I actually woke up before my alarm. I mean, who voluntarily wakes up before 5:30? This girl. This girl right here.

I also completely surprised myself by running the full 4-mile loop. Let me repeat that. I ran 4 miles this morning. Four miles. After not running for a year. Yessssssssssss! Unfortunately, my left knee hates me now. Damn you, LCL! You shall not get the better of me! *epic fist shaking*

The pièce de résistance, however, was actually pulling out my juicer for the first time since moving home and making myself 12 glorious ounces of kale, carrot, celery, granny smith, and yellow bell pepper juice. Immediate. Energy. Rush! I swear, this stuff is better than coffee, 5-hour energy, and diet pills combined.


SO MUCH ENERGIES!!! .....and gayness.....

Bonus: I am flying through my Things-To-Wrap-Up-By-The-End-Of-The-Week list and feeling like a total champ :) And now, as I knew I would, I'm just left wondering, What The Hell Took Me So Long?

Putting the Wings Back on my Feet

I have a hierarchy of goals. They are as large as traveling the world and as small as getting through a day without picking my cuticles. Right now, the goal on the top of my list is to actually break in my new running shoes.

GET ON MY FEET!!!

I spent the first half of the summer bemoaning not being able to run because I needed new running shoes and couldn't afford them. Well, these have been sitting in my room, still in their box, for a week now without me slipping into their gel-soled goodness.

The main problem is the fact that I am a lazy slob and cannot get myself out of bed before 7 a.m. In order for me to go for a run before work, have time to come back and shower, make my lunch, and drive the 30-minute commute, I'm thinking I need to be rolling out of bed by at least 5:30. Somehow, I just cannot get myself to do it.

"Well, Christina," you say. "That's an easy solution! Just go running after work."

Oh, my naive children, don't you know that the laziness sets in even stronger after work?

Save me from myself

Ok, so maybe I'm totally telling the truth exaggerating slightly.

All jokes aside, the truth of the matter is that I am a champ at over-booking myself. Case in point: I am leaving work early today to go take sailing lessons with my dad and then leaving there and flying to Dennis to attend a class at New Life Christian Center. By the time that's done, it will be after 9 p.m. and I will be in no mood to go running or even have the energy to attempt it.

What really needs to happen is, to steal Nike's slogan, Just. Do. It! Health/nutrition/exercise is a cycle: the more active one is, the more energy one has; the less active one is, the more lethargic one becomes. I know once I get myself out of bed that one morning and start running, the whole process will become easier and I won't have to force myself to go to bed early.

Being committed to health means being committed to a change in lifestyle, i.e. waking up early enough to go running means not staying out late the night before. I have known this for so long and yet somehow it's so easy to regress. I am so close to my weight goal that sometimes it's easy to pat myself on the back and think those last 5 pounds aren't really that important. And while some people would agree and say that I look great just as I am, I set that goal for myself for a reason and it's important to follow through (and not just because I'm obsessive about weight loss and meeting goals). It's important because I'm not in the habit of half-assing things in any area of my life. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right and to the best of my ability. That's how I was raised. Furthermore, once I acheive my goal doesn't mean I want to stop being healthy. I made the decision to change what I eat and how I consume and I want that to stay with me for the rest of my life.

AWESOME PEP TALK, ME! So, all that being said, I am totally inspired to stop making excuses and start running in the mornings....

........starting next week........

Hey, don't be haters, I blessed you with two posts in one day! Be grateful :)

The Dog Days Are Over

Yes, I know it's been awhile, and I'm sorry to the 2 people who actually read this for leaving you high and dry with updates on my life. The truth is, my life has been pretty hellish over the last...well, let's just say since 3/4 way through 2009. But, I was writing some back then, so no need to rehash. It's a new season. A new chapter in my life has opened and I am once again filled with hope that, yes, despite everything, there is joy and abundance.

I don't want to get too much into, "This happened and then this happened, and after that came this happening." However, I do want to fill in a few details.

I am back on Cape Cod and living with my parents in an attempt to pay off the massive amount of debt I accrued during my time in Pittsburgh (thanks AmeriCorps!) and in Brooklyn (thanks The Artist). I am once again single...a little (lot) more scarred and cynical than before and realizing that dating ass holes is a deathly pattern in my life and I need to change that immediately. I am changing it by working through some of my issues in therapy, surrounding myself with positive, supportive people, and by dating The Last Gentleman On Earth.

TLGOE=*le sigh*

I love that I'm attracted to him for all the reasons why other girls would probably just keep walking. He is so adorably nerdy and awkward I cannot stand it. Because, let's be honest, I'm really nerdy and awkward too, I just pretend like I have my shit together. I mean, who else have I ever met actually likes astronomy AND knows what/where the constellations are? Who shares my dweby love for Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and totally gets references to Teen Girl Squad? Who still goes out of his way to open a door (including car doors. Every. Single. Time), pull out a chair, let me order first, always pay for EVERYthing, and not try to just get in my pants immediately? And sure, he's not perfect and there are things that give me pause, but, I'm more concerned right now with him coming to his senses and realizing that I am way too damaged to be worth while then me losing interest because of whatever reason that is no where near important right now because he makes me feel so incredible.
And Bonus: We both agree that taking things ridiculously slow never hurt anyone. And who would've thought, at this point in my life, that I would actually get butterflies just from snuggling on the couch watching a movie? And the other night when he held my hand, I thought I was going to melt into the seat. I mean, this is high school giddiness we're talking about! This hasn't happened to me since the 90s!

Sooooooo, that's that and that's good :). There have been not-so-good things happening this summer, but I'm not dwelling on the negative anymore. I am focusing on the fact that I am making enough money between my two jobs to pay down debt AND buy new shoes. I am focusing on the fact that I have lost over 10 pounds since moving out of the city and am five pounds away from my "high school skinny" goal (!!!). I am focusing on the fact that I get to see my niece, aka My Moo (as well as the rest of my family) multiple times a week. I am focusing on the fact that the past is just that: the past....done, over, finished, and left behind me.

Happiness in Life is not about everything being perfect and going exactly the way you want it to all the time. Happiness is acheived through attitude, through being proactive and not reactive, through focusing on the positive and not the negative.

Happiness also comes from having plane tickets booked for Buffalo the third week of August. It will be the first visit I have made since my Nonna's death in November. The term bittersweet was never more applicable....

Yes, I am ignoring the fact that I have not updated this blog for months

I could not stop laughing last night. You know the kind of laugh I'm talking about: tears welling up and running out of eyes, ribs protesting from the incessant gut-flexing, cheeks sore from smiling so hard. Yes, that's the kind of laugh I had last night...for about 2-hours/the duration of the movie Horrible Bosses.

Please, if you have not already seen this movie, drop everything you are doing and post-haste get thee to the nearest moving picture house. I went with The Last Gentleman On Earth and if it wasn't so nice being nestled under his arm, I would've just been doubled over the whole time. I'm sure the two glasses of wine (one of which was a sparkling white in an aluminum can....with a straw....that we smuggled in....C.L.A.S.S.) had nothing to do with my constant giggling/choking on my own saliva/convulsions of grandeur. Epic.

No, but seriously. Watch. The. Movie! I would give you some quotes to show just how legend *wait for it* ary this movie is, but they don't even do it justice. And honestly, most of the pee-your-pants funniest parts are funny because everyone is talking over each other. I would fo' sho' go see it again. And again. And again.