…love Jillian

So, with 2010 gone and 2011 here.  It might be time to state some resolutions/goals for the year.

(For the record, on Dec 31st Hubs and I resolved to NOT order pizza in the month of January.  Can you guess what we had for a late dinner on January 2nd?)

In 2011 I resolve to:

• Be more patient with Hubs.  And Tyson.  
• do at least some type of physical activity everyday, even if it’s just walking the dogs.
• do at least SOME laundry every day (or week.)
• call my sister at least once a week.  Even if we have nothing substantial to say…
• Finally learn how to knit.  I said I was going to do this with my Grammy but that didn’t happen so it’s all up to me now. 
• Get back to reading.  I used to read a 3 or 4 books a month an now I’m struggling to get past the ‘sample’ portions when I read on my Nook. 

Sure these resolutions may seem easy, and maybe they are…but the point isn’t to make goals/resolutions that are hard; the point is to make a difference.  And these goals would definitely make a difference. So, I’ll keep you updated on the progress of the aforementioned resolutions. 

I have a feeling this year is gonna be different.

What are your resolutions?

No Comments | In: Books, Family, Puppies, Working Out | | #

• I’m ecstatic that this weekend is Hubs’ Half Ironman.  He’s all trained up and I’m sure he will finish well within his goal.  I know he can do it!  Even more importantly, I’m looking forward to jumping up a spot on Hubs priority list and hopefully I can regenerate some enthusiasm for swim/bike/run in the upcoming off season.  This summer was a lot of waiting around for Hubs….




• Work is a roller coaster of good and bad days.  One day is super busy with tons of orders and the next my phone is lucky to light up with an arrival of another ridiculous twitter by @chunkhandler.  Seriously, that dog is funny.  Thank you Chelsea Handler!  Or should I say @Chelseahandler since hashtags are the new cool.




• I’ve been thinking a lot about my eating habits recently.  I read the book “Food Rules” by Michael Pollen and am in the Middle of “This is Why You’re Fat” by Jackie Warner—these people bring up some valid points about how I’m making the wrong food choices.  Basically, both of their philosophies go a little something like this:  Eat as close to the Earth as possible.  And Jackie has a special emphasis on avoiding sugar (since it’s in practically everything we eat.  She says not to eat any food with more than 5g of sugar except for fresh fruit.)  This is basically the same as eating close to the earth because avoiding processed chemically altered foods only leaves food from the outside isles of the grocery store anyway.  I’m contemplating adapting these food philosophies into my daily eating.  Oh, and Jackie says you get two treat meals on the weekends as long as you eat “clean” for 5 days…I’m still kinda mulling this over a little bit though.  Do you know how much I love Tostitos?




• I’m super excited for one of my girlfriends to get home from her cruise…hopefully engaged or not but either way–we need to talk!




• Tyson has really started to wear on me in a way that makes me want to sew his butt hole closed. What is it with this dog pooping in the house?  Nothing gets your day started off on the wrong foot than a big steaming pile of dog crap in your kitchen morning after morning.  He’s quick too.  I don’t even miss him when he sneaks downstairs during the 15 minutes its takes me to brush my teeth and throw on my clothes.  I don’t understand how one dog can be so clueless…or maybe brillant. 

No Comments | In: Awesome TV Shows, Being an adult is lame, Books, Eating, I miss my metabolism, Triathlons/Racing | | #

Last night on my way to Fusion I was caught in what seemed like the worst traffic jam in the history of traffic jams.  No accident, no collapsed road, just people driving slowly and erratically and I missed Fusion.  So, in its absence I took Hubs to see Eat Pray Love. 

         I had extremely high hopes for this movie.  And while I can’t say I thought it was great; it wasn’t awful either—Hubs felt a little differently.  He was less than impressed with the cinematic counterpart to my favorite book.  He was a trooper though; he sat through the entire 2:13 minutes with only a couple annoyed shifts in his seat. And when it was all over, he simply said he couldn’t identify with any of the characters and he has no feelings about this movie at all.  Well, duh–it’s a movie about a woman on a search for self discovery after leaving her dull and lifeless marriage.  I’m not sure what I expected him to say.

         Earlier today, I heard another unfavorable review from a friend, she said, “she enjoyed the book but hated the movie.”  In the movie’s defense; it was exactly what her book was: a quiet journey through Italy, India, and Indonesia aka spaghetti, chanting, and meditation.  And in reality that’s just not very exciting.  Sure, anyone can do action, comedy, or even romance but this was a documentary of her personal travels, inner dialogue, and her slow transformation into the person she wanted to be…

        I can’t imagine how upset the world would be if they had spent $10 to sit through 2:13 minutes of footage from my time in Chicago.  Frozen pizza after frozen pizza, cuddling with Maggie, pilates, staying in, movies, sleeping, yoga, tv, and traveling home to visit my family.  Seriously, that does not an action movie make….

         All in all, I think it was well done.  I thought Julia Roberts played Elizabeth Gilbert perfectly (perfectly as in the vision I had in my mind) and I will definitely watch it again when it comes on TV.  But, in the meantime, I think should re-read the book because so many of her  ideas and ah-ha moments got lost in the making of the movie that it barely scratched the surface on what Elizabeth Gilbert journey was really about….the ever changing need to stay true to yourself.

No Comments | In: Books, Movies | | #

Eat Pray Love was released last week I’m hoping it lives up the book because I’m super excited to see this movie.  I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir a while ago and it really resonated with me; a woman who abandoned an unsatisfying marriage to live life on her own terms?  Yes, please.  (This book surfaced in my life shortly after I made the decision to leave my own crappy nuptials.)

          Now, I wasn’t able to abandon everything and travel around the world like Elizabeth Gilbert but I did make the decision to take control and live alone in a city where the only people I knew were force to spend the hours of 9-5 with me (I had just started and only knew a couple people better than just being able to recall their first AND last name—those few people became my Chicago family and without them I might have ran home to Kansas City quicker than you could say—nice to know ya.)  Maggie (a dog that still appreciates any weekend plans to stay in, make pizza and watch movies) and I took a couple years to figure out who we were, what we wanted, and where we wanted to be—for me, all roads led right back to my hometown.  For Maggie, the journey was a little less complicated but after her initial excitement to be out of a house where only her Mommy appreciated her, she decided she could be happy as long as there was a steady flow of cuddles and puppy food. 

          In my short life, I’ve left my hometown again and again and somehow always manage to find my way back—the story of my life:  a restless adventurer.  But what I’ve always needed (even now) is exactly what Elizabeth Gilbert found in her journey:  Balance.  Balance in life, friends, family, work, and relationships. 

          I don’t think this movie could have been released at a better time.  I need to be reminded that without balance it will inevitably fall apart.  I need to make sure that I’m cultivating the most important relationship in my life—the one I have with myself and I need to make sure I’m doing the things that I’m doing because that’s what I WANT to be doing.  (Don’t get me wrong, I know relationships are a give and take and I’m completely down with compromise but on the other hand, it’s so easy for me to chameleon myself into someone else’s stuff.)   I like doing a lot of different things so it’s easy for me to just go along until I wake up and realize I’m not doing any of the things I like to do anymore.   

          Which brings me to the good timing of this movie, I’ve noticed in the last couple months, the comment to Hubs, “we always do what you wanna do,” is coming out of my mouth more and more and while it’s normally delivered in a playful tone lately it’s gotten less playful each time I say it.  So, in an effort to get back to the things I like, Hubs has started wakeboarding and reduced the pressure on swimming/running down to nil.  I think we’ve come to an understanding that if I’m going to do something that he likes we need to at least do it together—aka triathlon-ing (and I’m sure there are a million other examples I could come up with but those are the only ones sticking out right now.)

         Back when Hubs and I started dating he constantly told me how much he loved my independent nature and it was one of the things that drew him to me but somewhere along way I’ve misplaced that independence.  And now with the release of Eat Pray Love, I have a revived urgency to take some of that liberating independence back…

No Comments | In: Books, Life, Movies | | #

        Last Friday Hubs and I headed over to Barnes and Noble to pick up the next installment of Chelsea Handler’s books.  I started with the last one (Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang) since it was getting so much hype and fell in love.  I’ve never laughed out loud so many times during one book in my entire life–I finished it in two days.  I highly recommend this book for an entertaining read. 

          Anyway, while we were at BN I found a couple books I wanted including, “Are You There Vodka?  It’s Me, Chelsea” and “The Reliable Wife.”   Hubs found the “Nook” display.  (The Nook is B/N’s version of the Kindle.  Hubs has been dying to get me a Kindle since we started dating and I’ve always managed to successfully fight him on it.  There’s just something about having the actual book in your hand; the satisfaction of adding each book to my collection and looking back at all the books I’ve read that makes me feel proud.  The “Nook” offers no such feeling. 
          So, Hubs starts talking to the sales guy about it.  He asks how much the books I’ve picked up cost vs. how much the electronic version would cost.  And basically used the sales guy to successfully beat down any rebuttal I generated. All I wanted to do was pay for the books in my hand and leave:

Hubs:  I think we should get you a Nook.   

Me:  Yeah, I know but I just don’t want one.

Hubs:  Why?  THEY ARE AWESOME!

Me:  I don’t  know. 

Hubs:  Ok, let’s get it.

Me:  No, I like collecting books. 

Hubs:  They’ll be saved right here on your Nook forever.  Like your iPod. 

Me:  These books are only $30 as opposed to spending all that money for a Nook that I don’t even want….

Sales Guy:  Oh, yeah, well I think you get a $50 gift card just for buying the Nook…AND you can use it for the purchase of the Nook if you want.

Me:  Seriously?  I just don’t think we NEED it.

Hubs:  It just makes sense. Think of all the money we are going to save on books. 

Sales Guy:  You can shop online and never have to come to the book store again.

Me:  But I like coming to the book store.

Sales guy:  Well, when you come into any B/N store you can read ALL the eBooks for free every day.  So, you could technically never buy another a book if you didn’t want too…they’re all free.  

Me:  Yeah, but it’s just another thing for me to charge.  What if I’m traveling?  It would totally suck if it died on a plane. 

Hubs:  (googling) The battery lasts 10 days!

Me:  Really, I don’t think we need it.

Hubs:  Come’on I think you are gonna love it.  

Me:  Fine.  But I’m getting the super cute pink case for it too.

Hubs:  This one?  Let me carry that to register for you!

        So, after we got home with the Nook, in true geeky husband fashion, Hubs had to play with it first.  He sat it up and downloaded the books I had picked up earlier.  While he did all that I wallered the couch like a 5 year old annoyed that if I had just bought the actual books I would have already been halfway done with one of them.  I bet I asked him 20 times if I was ready to read books yet and he simply replied, “almost.”  Until I was ready for bed.

          I’ve had the Nook for less than a week and (please don’t tell Hubs) I actually LOVE it.  All the books are right there and when you turn it on it actually picks up right where you left off.  I’ve yet to charge it and the battery is still over half way full.  I cannot believe I’ve survived this long without it.  So, I’m sorry for all that fighting and whining and complaining.  Hubs was right.  Reading is more fun with technology!

Thanks Hubs!

No Comments | In: Books, How much I love my Husband, Shopping | | #