Happy New Year!

Happy 2012 everyone! I spent last night stuffing my face with tortilla chips, queso, and margaritas at my favorite mexican place in Dallas, Banditos. I also saw Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol which was amazing - Tom Cruise may be completely nuts but he's still fabulous. 

This morning I woke up and after what has been a very prolonged break, I reintroduced myself to the scale. Yikes. Not unexpected, and deserved, but still. Ouch. But it's not just the weight I've put back on, it's how I've been feeling lately with all the snacks at work that suppliers are sending in for us. With the exception of some Harry and David pears, the month of December was a parade of neverending chocolate deliciousness. My pants are tight and I don't feel comfortable wearing some outfits I wore a couple of months ago. I practically lived in yoga pants while I was at home over Christmas and now I don't want to wear real pants. Yuck.

Now that it's the new year, everyone will be cracking down at work again which will be great for me. I spent today cooking my crockpot chili and some turkey sausage gnocchi to eat over the next few days. I measured everything and after I ate I tracked every calorie. I also reset my goals through May...7 pounds a month to get me to 35 pounds by May 31st. I'm already cranky from counting calories today. Here we go...

And just to cap the year off, here is a fun survey for 2011:

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Ran a 5K. Went to California (3 times!). Went to the US Open. Visted Boston. Went to Kansas City. 

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I did not reach my goal for weight loss, but I did not give up and ended up smaller than I was last January...by a lot. I also ran a 5K and attended a young alumni event for the Notre Dame Club of Dallas. Woohoo! For next year I am going to continue losing weight and go to at least one (new people) event a month. 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Two of my coworkers had babies this year, and so did my friend from undergrad.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes, my granma. It will be a year ago on January 7th. 

5. What countries did you visit?

Just the US. 

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

Opportunities to meet new people and more success in my weight loss efforts. Also, more dancing. 

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

January 7th, when granma died. December 10th, when I ran my first 5K. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

My weight loss and my promotion at work (whatever, I can pick two).

9. What was your biggest failure?

Probably my weightloss...I let myself get out of control in November/December so I am going to have to work really hard to form the new habits again.   

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I hurt my back pretty badly during kickboxing class (it flared up again the week before Christmas) but I'm doing fine now. 

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A membership at 24 Hour Fitness. New clothes in smaller sizes. Gift cards to Starbucks with my credit card reward points. A last minute plane ticket to Providence to see Lady Gaga. 

12. Where did most of your money go?

STUDENT LOANS, rent, traveling, new clothes (!!). 

13. What did you get really excited about?

All my November traveling: Halloween in New Orleans, Boston, Notre Dame, and home. Football season. 

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Could it really be anything else?

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Happier!
– thinner or fatter? Thinner!
– richer or poorer? Richer! 

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Meeting new people, working out, saving money, and cooking. 

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Being lazy on the weekends. Eating. Complaining about work. 

18. How did you spend Christmas?

In Arkansas with my family. 

19. What was your favorite TV program?

It's a close call between Vampire Diaries and Revenge, but I'm going to have to go with Revenge on this one. 

20. What were your favorite books of the year?

The Gift of Fear and the Cases that Haunt Us. Also, Cold Turkey was really cute. I'm excited because I just recently got back into reading for fun in November. 

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

Adele and Gaga are my girls, and as much as I hate to admit it, LMFAO kept me working out. 

22. What were your favorite films of the year?

This is a hard one, but I'd have to say The Muppets because it made me smile the WHOLE time I was watching, and Horrible Bosses, which was underrated and made me laugh more than Bridesmaids (OMG yes I said there was a comedy better than Bridesmaids!!).

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 26 and I went to lunch at Breadwinners, had a happy hour with people from work at Gordon Biersch and did dinner afterwards...But my big celebration was my trip to New Orleans!

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I would've liked to have met my weight loss goal.  

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

More tights and dresses and belts. 

26. What kept you sane?

Going to the gym with friends, the Keurig machine at work, Starbucks, and caffeine generally, Southwest's $5 wifi on the plane, and visiting my friends spread all over the country.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Sometimes people aren't who you want them to be, but you have to accept it and get over it...or move on.

I Met a New Year's Resolution Today!!

So at the beginning of the year I set a few goals for myself for 2011. One of these was to finish a 5K at some point this year. I kept putting it off for whatever reason...I planned to do the St. Paddy's Day Dash on Greenville before the parade - it didn't happen. Then I was going to sign up for one in May. That didn't happen either, and then of course it was way too hot to do anything during the summer. October and November I was out of town for work or vacation, and suddenly I was facing the end of the year.

A few weeks ago while I was at home I looked up races before the end of the year and found the Frosty 5K and Fun Run in Frisco. I signed up for the 1 mile Fun Run since I hadn't trained at all for a 5K and figured at least I'd get used to a race-day atmosphere and how the whole thing works. 

This morning I woke up at 6:30AM...on a Saturday...when it was below 30 degrees outside. I got ready and drove out to Frisco. I went up to the registration booth and figured...I'm here, I might as well do the full 5K. So I paid the difference, got my tshirt and goodie bag, and went back to my car to take a nap for an hour (apparently when they say registration starts at 7, it's ok to get there at 7:55).

And...I finished!! They haven't posted official times yet, but I used my phone to unofficially track myself and I think I ended up around 48 minutes. I really wanted to finish in under 45, but I was close! I walked most of it, but I did run some, I was not last, and it was fun. Very, very cold. I did not bring gloves. Mistake. I will post my official time and pictures (?) that were taken during the race. The only picture I thought to take while I was there was this one, when I decided it was way too cold and way to early for me to process nonsense like this:

It was 30 degrees outside. As if these shorts would be ok otherwise.

I signed up for another one in Addison on January 14th - the Hotcake Hustle. I really didn't hesitate after I found out there will be free pancakes and hot chocolate at the finish line.

UPDATE: Official time was 49:16, woot! My goal for the January 5K will be to finish under 45 minutes!

Thanksgiving Break!

And my final vacation of November...a visit to Notre Dame and then back to Arkansas for Thanksgiving!

Johnny's dorm room in Carroll.

By the lake. 

Me and mom!

Notre Dame beat Boston College, which was great, and it was my first time in the stadium with the new music playing. Here's a clip from the kick-off - they gave everyone pompoms and the stadium atmosphere was awesome!

There was also an Undertones concert in the bookstore after the game, which was lovely. Too bad all their CDs were sold out...I hope my brother will remember to bring me one back for Christmas!

My mom and I came back home for Thanksgiving, and of course we can never have a relaxing week. Bear, our little dog, ended up ripping a big gash in his belly and mom and I had to take him to the vet. The poor thing had stitches and a drainage tube put in for two weeks - thank goodness he's okay, the vet said the gash missed his abdominal cavity by 1mm!

I went and saw The Muppets movie at Aaron's (Rivka's brother) birthday party, and it was the best movie I've seen in a long time. It was just so cute, my cheeks hurt afterwards from smiling the whole way through it. Now that I'm back in Dallas I'm finishing up my Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, and drinking copious amounts of cider and hot chocolate.

A Step Back in Time

Fun fact? They filmed Sister Wives here a few weeks ago. 

To Plimoth Plantation! One of the many exciting places we visited while I was visiting Boston a few weeks ago. Meaghan was a fabulous hostess and took Debbie and I exploring the whole weekend. Also, there was a dance party, which is really all it takes to make me happy anyway.

Outside of the gates of Hahvahd Yahd.

On Friday we went to a hockey game at Harvard, which was pretty much what you would expect. I am pretty sure there were more Cornell fans there than Harvard fans, but who's counting? The players were pretty and the place was packed - and it had been so long since I'd seen a hockey game I was definitely into it.

After that we attended a dance party (Cronk 2.0 was the name of it, I believe) some students in Meaghan's program were throwing in an old gymnasium on campus. I had so much fun, even though I definitely regretted my decision to wear my new boots.

Dancin.

Bein gorg. The yooj.

On Saturday we went to Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower II (a recreation of the original Mayflower). Plimoth was fantastic except for the part where I was harassed by a pilgrim. I asked him "What do y'all do for fun around here?" and he acted like he couldn't understand me and didn't know what "fun" was. RUDE.

The MOOflower. Hilarious.

Inadvertently racist. I promise I was just making a he's-so-hot face. 

The happiest sheep in the world. 

The culprit. 

Baby. Goats. 

That girl was SUPER skeptical about the breadmaking going on here. 

Then we tried on some hats. Obviously.

Sexy Pilgrim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6YuLgyYZhc
You're welcome.

A wolf mask. No one told me this was not...right.

Adorable character hats. 

The Mayflower II was excellent...it was crazy to think how many people were on that boat while it slowly made its way across the Atlantic. I fear I would've thrown some people overboard had that been me.

Really excited to be hanging out with the cannon.

Debbie was not pleased with my climbing antics.

But we got the cutest picture ever out of it!

Sunday we went on a Harpoon brewery tour which was fantastic! They walked us through the brewery and then we had a tasting afterwards. They had all the different beers on draft. I loved the seasonals but my favorite was the UFO Hefeweizen.

Sniffing something they use to make beer. I got a lot out of the tour.

Tasting everyone they had on draft - yum!

Aw yea!

After that we had a tour of downtown Boston with our cute, historically-garbed tour guide.

And then we went to Mike's Bakery where it was INSANELY busy and bought way too many cannolis that we ate later back at Meaghan's apartment.

The whole place was packed.

Spoiler alert: they were delicious.

And finally some amazing Italian food - I wish I could remember the name of this seafood linguine dish, because it was incredible.

Something about pesce. I don't know.

The endangered pentapus, nature's most noble creature.

Definitely loved visiting Boston, but I knew it was off to ND after only three days back at home. Yes, November was a complete whirlwind.

Third Eye Blind in DFW!

Third Eye Blind had a last-minute show in downtown Carrollton and I talked my cousin Steven, who just happened to be in town, into coming with me to see them. 3EB is absolutely my favorite band I've ever seen live, and this is the second time I've seen them this year after they did a show in Addison back in May (they were also my very first concert back in 7th grade and they came to perform at Notre Dame my senior year).

Here's a video of them playing my favorite song, Motorcycle Drive By. So good.

And a short clip of their encore song, How's It Gonna Be. Can't wait to see them again!

Get Ready for a LOT of Updates

I'm going to split all of these updates up so it's not one overwhelmingly long post (you are welcome), so be prepared!

The first update I need to share is from my Halloween trip to New Orleans. Yikes, it has been a while since I've updated. My costumes were Snooki and the Tin (Wo)Man from the Wizard of Oz. I went with Ashley and Megan (both from Chicago) and it was a total blast as evidenced by these pictures...

Scared on the Haunted Swamp Tour!

We were a hat trick the first night. Get it?!

YUM. Cafe du Monde was necessary.

Met the entire cast of WWF.

Snooki!

Cowardly lion, scarecrow, and tin man!

We stayed in a great hotel about a block away from Bourbon street, did all the fun touristy things like the swamp tour, the ghost tour, and the cemetery tour. We went out every night (Pat O'Brien's of course, and then wandering Bourbon St.) and met some interesting people - one guy dressed as Wolverine claimed to be a movie star and did have a picture on his phone of him playing a bailiff in Drop Dead Diva. His business card listed him as an actor and martial artist. Quality.

I will make sure to look for him in the next GI Joe movie.

Going back to work after this awesome trip was rough -- good thing I only went back for a week! After that, I was off to Boston, which will be my next update...shortly.

PS: I only gained 1.4 pounds the whole time I was in New Orleans, which was INCREDIBLE since I ate everything in sight. Not sure how that happened.