30 Things Series - In Flight Edition (11-15)

All boarded, iPad in airplane mode, playlist loaded. Let's knock out another chunk of these.




11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra.

While I agree that all three can be fun, I'm unsure of the necessity of a cordless drill or a black lace bra. I feel like the last two on that list only lead to trouble.

12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.

I've got a shopping habit. Anyone who knows me already knows that. However, I rarely spend a fortune on anything. Every designer piece of anything I own was on sale well below half of retail. I've gotten much better at curbing my retail therapy this past year as well.

There are a few things that I'd like that I know are ridiculously (and therefore unjustifiably) expensive. Even the excuse that I deserve them hasn't been enough to push me to purchase any of them. I'd love a pair of Christian Louboutin red-soled shoes. I'd be tickled over even an empty Tiffany's box. Though, like I said, can't justify them.

I try to save my splurges for travel. I guess you could say that I've bought myself lavish trips. I spent a week in Paris and a week at Disney World - because I deserved to go.

Try as I might to save money in the future, I'm very rarely going to turn down a chance to travel. I want to see more of the US, tour Europe, even check out places where I can't google what the signs say because my keyboard doesn't do those characters.

13. The belief you deserve it.

It's not hard for me to believe I deserve to spend money on travel. I've done everything the "right" way in life. I behaved as well as any teenager could, never got knocked up, got good grades, a scholarship, went to college, graduated cum laude, and found myself a great career (not just a job). All of this equals to me that I deserve to spend money on ridiculously expensive travel. Hell, even a short "staycation" at a hotel in town for no other reason than I want to escape the rest of the world is justified in my mind.

While this may sound somewhat like entitlement, I feel the need to say that I worked to get where I am. I've done what I'm supposed to do and what I've had to do to make my world happen. That's different from saying I deserve it because I am awesome.




14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine, and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don't get better after 30.

The first two were on my to-do list for a long time. I finally broke down and went to some experts for my skin. So far, I haven't collected many more wrinkles than those I picked up around 22. I'm hoping to keep my skin that way in as much of a healthy way as possible.

Starting earlier this year, I picked up running. I actually really enjoy going out for a run, even if I don't get to go for very long. It makes me happy to be able to go clear my head and people watch while running. I haven't been able to go for a month, but I intend to pick it up again soon.

As far as the rest of the things which don't get better after 30, I'll just lump everything under Health.

I know I need to start keeping out of things I'm allergic to - just because I can tolerate it with a Benedryl does not make it a good idea.

I know I ought to start watching my diet. I can count calories all day, but in the end, weight loss does not equal a healthy diet. I've cut a lot of the garbage out of my diet. I suppose I should look into cutting more of the crap and adding some more good things instead.

I know I could use more sleep on a regular basis. As much fun as I have on the Internet, I seriously need to hit the hay before midnight every night. This will likely be the hardest for me, considering the people I talk to online tend to keep later hours due to time zone differences.




15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship, and all of those other facets of life that do get better.

I love being a teacher. While I get paid well, the satisfaction is definitely the kids. I miss them all summer, even though I get new kids in the fall. I look forward to going to class to teach and interact with them. It drives me. I love them so very much - even the challenging ones!

Someday I might like to try my hand at something else. I haven't given up completely on writing. Law school interests me. Perhaps I'll stick around the schools and become a principal. I don't know. For now, I plan to keep doing what I love until it has lost its luster. The kids deserve that.

I'm pretty sure I'm working towards the most satisfying relationship of my life. :)

 

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Two Things Tuesday

My good friend, Elizabeth, writes a blog in which she has weekly posts for Thursday entitled, "Three Things Thursday". As I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon, I was inspired by a structured weekly post. With her permission, I altered her Thursday and changed it to my very own Two Things Tuesday.

2tT posts will be around random things. Sometimes they may be themed. No promises.

Now, without further ado, two things:

1. I love my movie buddy Dan dislikes going to the movies. I love going to the movies. It really doesn't even matter what the movie is - I'm there for the escapism and, more importantly, the popcorn. I could live on popcorn. Since Dan does not like to go to the movies, I was left with the option of not seeing them or seeing them at home. Enter Elizabeth! She is my movie buddy, and I am truly grateful for her. We snap up the $5 Groupon tickets to Studio Movie Grill every time they pop up. It makes me happy to go to the movies with Elizabeth.

2. Buh-Bye Queso In recent times, I have been eating a lot of chips and queso. I loved the melted cheese. It didn't even have to be great queso. Even just melted Velveeta worked for me. However, after a short period of not having any queso, I've discovered I can no longer stomach it. For some reason, it makes me sick to eat much of the stuff. This makes me sad. The same thing happened when I stopped eating McDonalds for a period of time. After that, it just didn't taste as good and made me sick to eat. I suppose we build up a tolerance to the junk we eat, which allows us to keep eating whatever it is. While it isn't a bad thing I can no longer stomach melted cheesy dip awesomeness, I am going to miss it very much.

Running! Exercise! Oh, My!

So, I went "running" for the first time today.  I use quotes because I didn't run the whole time and thus I feel guilty for calling it running.  This was my experience:

In preparation for my run, I bought fancy-shmancy running shoes.  You've already seen those.  They proved to be a good choice.  I also randomly had appropriate moisture wicking socks.

I was informed that I needed running shorts/pants because friction between my thighs is bad.  Instead of gearing up and buying more stuff I may never use more than once, I dug out a pair of yoga pants I've used once....  They proved to work out quite well as running pants.  They were light enough and breathed just fine.  No fires were started due to thigh friction today.

I was also informed that I would need a sports bra in order to be able to run without killing myself.  I doubled up and wore two, just to be safe.  Apparently, I need to invest in a better (or more?) sports bras.  They did function well as a holder for my asthma inhaler and cell phone.

My cell phone did manage to chafe my chest a bit from sweating and running with it tucked not so neatly inside my double layers of Lycra.  I would have left it at home, but I brought it along because I had downloaded an app called, "Runkeeper". This app tracks my speed, distance and is programmable to include running plans (run for x minutes, walk for x, and so on).  Additionally, it will make a little map of my running trail.  This was more entertaining than it should have been.  

The walking/running combination I did kicked my butt.  In fact, my butt hurts.  I'm making myself believe this is a good thing.  I didn't have any issues with my asthma (WHOO HOO!).  All in all, I'd say everything went quite well.  I'll definitely be doing this again - maybe even tomorrow - I'm going to wait and see how sore I feel in the morning.  If I can't move, there will be no running two days in a row.

Shoes - The Solution for Everything

A lovely lady at my school has begun a Biggest Loser style contest at my school. This is actually the second run of the contest. The first time around, I pretty much just donated my entry fee. This time, I'm taking it seriously. Even if I don't win, I fully intend to be 15 pounds thinner by June 1.

 Week 1 went really well. From Monday to Friday, I lost 3 pounds. I ramped up my activity and started seriously watching my caloric intake. As recommended by a good friend of mine, I've been monitoring my activity using a FitBit.

 The FitBit is a glorified pedometer. However, it not only tracks my daily steps, it also tracks distance, calories burned, stair flights climbed and my sleep. Yes, it even can tell how well I am sleeping.  Armed with this information, I have been able to quickly adjust what I can in order to be at optimal calorie intake/burn levels.

 This week (week 2), I intend to ramp things up. I found a running for beginners program on Pinterest which sounded doable, even to asthmatic me. So, in preparation for my upcoming runs, I bought these babies today:

Diet Trial #1 - Week 1 Update

So, I'm thinking this Special K diet thing will be an easier thing to do after school starts and I lack the option to go out to eat for lunch.  I'll be honest, I haven't stuck with the Special K stuff for breakfast and lunch.  Breakfast is easy enough to do.  However, since I'm still out for the summer and being mildly social, lunch hasn't been easy.

That being said, I've still dropped a little over 3 lbs in a week.  Whoo!  The diet promised 6 lbs in two weeks and I'm half way there in time and weight.

I spoke with one of my new friends who is a runner about taking up running.  She had some good pointers and promised to share a lot more via her blog (I'd link you, but I'm not sure if she's into me broadcasting her page).  The first major change I would have to make would be to start going to bed and getting up a lot earlier so I could run in the mornings.  Once school starts, I'll attempt to adjust my schedule to make that happen.  Then, we'll see how running goes.

Diet Trial #1

While shopping at Big Lots, I noticed they had Special K Red Berries on sale for $2 a box.  I love the freeze dried strawberries in the cereal.  That was reason enough for me to buy 2 boxes.

On the box it says that it is possible to lose 6 lbs in 2 weeks on the "Special K" diet.  I've nothing better to do with myself than to try it this summer.  Hell, it'll save me money to eat Special K for lunch and breakfast (it's been an extremely expensive month at my house).

So, today is day 1 on the Special K diet.  Instead of putting milk in the 1 cup of cereal I'm allotted, I opted for a half cup of French Vanilla Greek yogurt, instead - it was actually less calories than the 2% milk would have been.

Let me just say - this may be my new favorite way to eat cereal.  I don't miss the milk.  The yogurt was already a treat for me.

I'll keep you all updated on how fast I get sick of eating Special K and whether or not I lose 6 lbs in two weeks.