I got bored last weekend.

I took pictures.

Not even good ones.

Just sloppy ones.

But, eh? When you see what they’re pictures of- it won’t be that big of a deal anyway.

I do lots of cooking for the week on Sundays in an effort to eat healthily (um, except for some reason this weekend I forgot that was the plan. Boo.). Will, God love him, is not into this lifestyle.

But we’ll get to all that later.

Anyway- here’s a peek into my fridge and some of the things I have in my house most of the time. I’m thinking at the end of this post you’re going to have to share the randomness in yours.

So here we go.

Oh- actually wait.

My fridge, as you can see below, is a MESS. A big one. Remember a few posts down how I talked about how my house used to be immaculate until I started school? Yeah, the fridge is part of that. Ooh! I’m cleaning it in July. Maybe if I remember we’ll capture that in pictures too!

Um, on second thought… nah.

Welcome to my refrigerator!

And my freezer!

I keep this edamame on hand most of the time. They come in individual microwavable bags that are so so great. I make them a lot when Will and I go to the movies. He used to be embarrassed when I’d literally whip out a bag of soybeans- with a separate bag to throw away the pods.

But now he just comes to expect the humiliation.

I figure it’s better than licking the butter from his popcorn bag, or even worse, eating tons and leaving him with the tiny annoying pieces at the bottom that everyone hates. So really, it’s a win-win for both of us.

I LOVE these things. I always have them in my house for a million different uses. I add them to yogurt, oatmeal, use them for smoothies, eat them plain and frozen… you get the idea.

I always have a giant five pound bag of fish in my house at all times. Will hates fish, so it’s all mine. I made the mistake of getting whiting this past time and I don’t think I’ll do it again. I usually get tilapia or cod. Occassionally salmon or tuna. I eat fish several times a week so I go through a bag really fast!

I wish I could get Will to like ground turkey. He’s never tried it because he thinks he won’t like it. He’s very picky. And it annoys me. But at the same time allows me to eat healthy. But we’ll get to that later. Oh- and we’ll get to what this turkey made later too!

Yep. Braum’s ice cream. I know it says frozen yogurt, which would make you think that it’s mine, but it’s actually Will’s. This flavor was definitely not their best, so this has actually been sitting in the freezer for a while. Nice.

This pizza is definitely not something I’d typically buy because Will won’t eat it- “because it’s that healthy crap.” I, however, think it sounds really good. Want to come over and share it with me?

I really like these veggies. They’re supposed to be two servings (what a joke, right?), but I always eat one whole one. They’re only about 100 calories for the whole thing, so it’s definitely healthy too. And good with fish.

Ah stir fry. Something Will actually eats in here!

Let’s dig through my fridge now, shall we?

I buy three containers of this stuff every week. Greek yogurt is so good for you and has so much more protein than regular yogurt. I buy the plain and use it for everything! As a substitute for sour cream, with protein powder, for my smoothies, mixed with my frozen berries, plain with cinnamon and splenda… you get the point.

Yes. I literally open my fridge and am faced with this temptation EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. It’s tough, I’m not going to lie. I put one in Will’s lunch everyday (remember that part earlier where I told you he doesn’t eat healthy?) And everyday I do so, those candy bars call out to me. Especially the Three Musketeers. They act all self righteous and healthy since they’re a “low fat” candy bar. Who do those guys think they are anyway!?

Ah yes, let’s look down a bit into the crisper! Lots of goodies here! I had lots of salads this past week, complete with all sorts of yummy stuff.

Ooh! And this week’s protein shake! This made four days worth of shakes (at 238 calories a piece and about 20 grams of protein. Yay!). I love the purple-y pink color.

Ah yes, my dear friend. The protein powder. Without getting into exercise and protein consumption and blah, blah, blah boring you a lot (ha- as if this whole post wasn’t doing the trick anyway!), this stuff is great.

Especially when coupled with this. Trust me. You can’t do a high protein diet without this stuff. No need to elaborate, right?

And finally, my mini turkey meatloaves! I made these last weekend and have eaten them all week. I made the baby ones on the left as snacks. I just think they’re so darn cute and had to share.

So there you have it, my fridge. Whatcha got cookin’ out of yours? I’m coming over! 

Hi!

It’s update time!

So now that I’m back in school, something had to drop in my life to ensure that I wouldn’t become a homicidal maniac irrational. I chose to let my house go.

It’s not a pit, but it’s definitely seen better days. I like to think of it as somewhere in between TLC Hoarders: Buried Alive, and Danny Tanner’s crib on Full House. In sum, my house probably looks like a lot of other irrational Americans who on a whim woke up one day and were like, “I know! I want to willingly endure two years of mental pain during the worst.economic.conditions.ever. so that I’m more competitive for positions that companies can’t afford to hire right now! AND I want to do it while working full time!” Brilliant!

Anyway- before I went off on the above tangent, I had a point I was getting to.

My point is that I usually use my breaks in school to do major deep cleaning of our house. I like to spread it out over the course of a week, to where I don’t spend an entire Saturday scouring every nook and cranny. Only, it’s Thursday night and I haven’t so much as picked up a sponge.

Nice.

Oh- and I ate eight cake batter pancakes and three tortillas slathered in two tablespoons of peanut butter for dinner tonight.

It’s like my whole being is out of kilter and is in revolt for doing anything responsible this week.

Yet at the same time that grandma within wants to scratch my eyes out for not picking up the freaking Swiffer duster and going at the ceiling fans.

Have you seen your ceiling fans!?

Unless you’re Danny Tanner I bet they’re bad.

Before I started school, mine were clean. In fact, I could have hosted a dinner party on each of the blades (Ha. “Hi! Please bring your own ladder- and healthy side dish!").

Not so much any more.

Eh…

Basically I’m trying to tell you that nothing is happening cleaning wise tonight and I feel incredibly guilty about it and am trying to pretend that I don’t care at all.

But you all CLEARLY see through me. Who spends eight minutes talking about not caring? I obviously do.

Sigh…

Okay- so let’s move on, yes?

I don’t think there’s a need to update you on school. I’m pretty sure you’re clear on how I feel about that.

As for other things…

Will
Will started a new job in March. He had been working for his dad, driving back and forth to his hometown. Not only was it exhausting for both of us, but it was ridiculous in gas money. So, we decided it would be most economical for him to do what he’s doing up here instead of down there, which meant he had to leave his dad’s business. It was sad for them, but definitely nice for us overall. And our gas bill. So that’s been a transition the last couple of months, but a very good one.

The Sooner season is fast approaching, which always makes him happy, as you know. However he also has the Thunder to occupy his time. The real question is- will we have NFL to watch this fall? My bet is yes. If I have to beg the owners and players myself, I will. Will might go off the deep end if they don’t play. Okay, I’m kidding, but I couldn’t talk about my husband without addressing sports!

We also celebrated seven years of marriage in March! Seven. Geez. I’ll elaborate more on that in a separate cover. Not today!

Fitness
Much like Will and sports are me and working out. I realize I just told you of the carbicide that I just inflicted on myself, so it’s probably hard for you to take me seriously now. I knew I should have left the pancake part out! Eh- you all know me well enough to know that there are times in which I will most definitely have a tub of frosting in my house.

I will, say, however I haven’t been eating as much crap this year. You may have noticed that stock in Betty Crocker has taken a nose dive. I got so fed up of working out for nothing. I would spend hours in the gym trying to get “muscles” when all I was really doing was barely accomodating my giant caloric appetite. It’s hard to have muscles when they’re hiding under layers of cake batter pancakes!

Anyway, I’ve cut out a lot of the crap (which Will loves… HA) and have started to see better results. In fact, I feel like I need to show you guys that I no longer walk around with a box of cereal in my left arm at all times. Well, not as often anyway. I took this tonight, after the lovely plain white flour binge fest. I might as well have eaten two cups of sugar. Hopefully you can tell that I have teeny shoulder and bicep muscles trying to peek out (hello!), and not a mound of vanilla frosting sitting on my arm. Ugh. Vanilla frosting. Don’t remind me.

It’s right about -----> here <------ where I would now post my workout.

But I just ate eight pancakes.

I'm in no condition to offer workout advice.

I’m just glad I don’t pee eight times a night… yet
So I also turned 28 about a month ago. Yeah, I realize some of you are already there and past- but it’s still a milestone. I was convinced that 27 was still “mid to late twenties” (but really? who am I kidding? Everyone knows I was in my late 20s. I was just in denial for a year. Why do I feel like I’m going to be 29 FOREVER?).

Sweet Will is not a flower guy, mainly because I’m a cheap miser, however he had pretty pink roses sent to my work which totally brightened my day.

I intended on posting deep thoughts somewhere around there but for some reason I spent hours posting pictures of my OCD outlet picture taking instead.

Clearly I have a little more maturing to do in my old age.

Trying to Avoid Sleeping in the Car
Will turned 30 last summer and for his very belated birthday we’re making a trip to Florida for the OU-Florida State game. I know you’re shocked.

We also decided it would be nice to take a (Very, Very, Very) cheap trip somewhere around Christmas this year. Will suggested going to Minneapolis. If you’ve read for a while you know that every year in Kuwait we’d come back for vacation in Oklahoma and first stop over in Minneapolis. It sort of became our little spot and a place close to our hearts. Will thought it would be fun for us to do that again this year.

I think he’s sweet.

But at the same time, we haven’t gone on a trip that wasn’t OU related in a while and I thought it might be nice to do something we haven’t done yet. I suggested Vegas, but Will said we can’t go to Vegas at Christmas. He didn’t come out and say it but I feel like he thinks it’s sacrelige or something. I suggested a few more places and he hasn’t been too enthused just yet. We don’t want to spend very much at all. In fact, I think we’re considering this as more of a mini getaway instead of a full blown vacation. I mean, I don’t want us to sleep in the rental car, but we also don’t want to give away the farm.

Or Lucy.

So, I’m back to the drawing board. Somewhere in between scrubbing our shower and losing four pounds this week I’m going to look into all inclusives. Surely he’ll go for that, right?

Perhaps the biggest update
Oh- and by the way- my parents bought the house one door down.

Do you love how I calmly throw that in?

It’s like I need my own reality television show.

Because then I would have a reason to clean my house.

Oh- and they’d probably capture some interesting moments for sure.

My dad is still in Kuwait working full time, but my mom is currently staying here while they sort of figure out what they’re going to do (and all roads eventually lead right down the street. Actually. Not even really down the street. That would mean that you could ride your bike there or maybe even take a quick drive. Not walk outside and be in their driveway.).

Oh, and let’s not even get into the fact that I STILL HAVEN’T BLOODY GIVEN HER A GRANDCHILD.

I mean- it’s not like I wake up in the middle of the night and see her hovering over my side of the bed with a sonogram machine in hand “just to make sure” or anything, but still… between her and Jenny, and our seven years of childless marriage- yeah- I can’t really expect it not to come up.

I say all this for blogging material (hi mom!), but honestly it’s been nice. I spent three years away from my family, after being close in proximity for 25 years. I don’t think any of us anticipated that after three years we would be this close in proximity though, right? Because everyone close to me knows that it’s free game on here (haha). So hopefully my family can be good sports and know that I actually love how my sweet mom cuts up canteloupe for me and offers to mend my clothes, and make dinner, and go to church with us. It’s nice.

Let’s Call it a Night
I’m sure there’s more, but I just did a quick preview and wow- the odds of anyone reading this is pretty low. Even my dear old mom probably tuckered out at those freaking awesomely fierce arms (oh and I’m kidding by the way. They’re not fierce. I hope one day though!). My point is that I probably need to pull back the throttle on the lengthy post. Unfortunately I think it’s a little too late!

Eh.

I have a few more days until my summer class begins. I wonder if I can commit to posting once a week during my class? That’s not bad, right? Then I have a whole month off so I for see more consistent posting- and house cleaning- then.

That’s all for now, but as always, more to come…

During the Summer of 2004 I was a newly married college student. That summer I was taking one class and working at the university- which was only like a 30 hour a week job. Put it this way- I had lots of time on my hands. This allowed me lots of time to hang out with P.

For some reason that summer we thought it would be fun to take up tennis. Let’s keep in mind that neither of us have all that much athletic ability. Sure, P was a cheerleader, and yes I work out at the gym- but please let me assure you, that does not convert into athletic ability. Will is always trying to get me to play basketball with him, and I’m just pitiful.

I’m getting off track!

Anyway- because we were so awful we would go in the middle of the afternoon, the height of summer heat and misery and pain, so no one would see us. I’m surprised neither of us suffered from heat exhaustion, really.

We would stand on opposite sides of the net and P would serve and it would hit the net and bounce back to her feet.

Then she’d serve and it’d fly over the net and I’d be swinging in the air on the left side, when the ball was on the right side.

Then I would try to serve and it would go flying, or it wouldn’t pass the net, or it would go into the other court.

We were awful.

We volleyed back and forth a few times- in the course of the whole month we devoted to tennis- but that was the extent of it. My mom and Will would occasionally go with us in the evenings. Will would try to play with us, but unfortunately he has no “off” switch. He is always in competitive game mode, out to win. He had fire in his eyes, and I swear had he been bald I would have mistaken him for Andre Agassi. So while me and P just wanted someone to gently hit the ball back and forth with us, Will was out for war. He wanted to hit the ball hard, he wanted to win, he wanted to make us hate him. He would frustrate me for not just freaking playing “nice” and I would frustrate him for chasing after the ball nonstop and not being able to hit anything. Fun times. Hmm, maybe this Spring I’ll convince to give it another go! What do you think?

Happy Valentine’s Day!! <3

Will and I were homebound today and will be tomorrow as well.

Victims of the blizzard.

I use victims very loosely because I sat on the couch in grey sweatpants with my computer on my lap working from home while watching old CSI Miami episodes.

It was rough I tell you.

The bad thing about blizzards, however, is that they make you fat.

I can’t prove it- but I may seek out a grant to do so.

Poor Will. I think I’m ready to go to the gym? Ha-

WILL is ready for me to go to the gym. If I don’t, The Shining could very well manifest itself at my house.

I can’t even begin to tell you all the crap I had while I was at home today. I started strong with oatmeal but before long I was having french bread, and Ruffles, and frosting, and pretzels… It was an out of control carbicide I tell you! It was if I didn’t think I was going to be able to eat for days or something and was trying to all Black Bear myself through the storm incase I had to hibernate.

The trouble with this issue is that:

1. I’m at home tomorrow again

2. It’s Super Bowl weekend which means I needed to save my cheat day for Sunday.

Oh and let’s not forget that later this month I will experience an entire weekend of gluttony when I go see P for her birthday.

It’s official- February is Faturary.

Elliptical, here I come. 

Good: It was icy today so I worked from home.

Bad: I ate pizza for lunch (um a LOT) and cereal for dinner and totally de-railed today’s goal. I really need structure in my life, as you can see.

Good: I left a piece of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory in the fridge all.week.long

Bad: In a moment of weakness this past weekend I ripped it out of the fridge and devoured it like a starving panther in heat.

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that I waited a WEEK to do that though, right? I consider this a small success.

Good: I got a super cute new pair of boots during Christmas.

Bad:It is far too cold to wear them with a pretty skirt and show them off. Pants for now…

Good: Will bought several new shirts and they’re so pretty (ahem- I mean manly) and I always feel happy when he wears them

Bad: They suck to iron.

Good: I found some super cute stuff online at New York & Co and was going to use a gift card I had gotten at Christmas to pay for everything.

Bad: The stupid site will only allow me to apply one gift card and so they keep wanting me to put $75 on against my credit card instead of using another gift card. Seriously people! It’s 2011! Figure a way for me to apply both.

Good: I worked out today- which wasn’t a planned workout day.

Bad: See above for what I ate today.

Good: I’m logging my calories on Lose It with my sister

Bad: I’m now friends with Angela so she knows I went way, way over my calories today.

Good: My doggies snuggled with me on the couch while I worked today.

Bad: Boz woke me up at 2:30 this morning puking. That was fun. I cleaned the carpet with very limited light so I wouldn’t wake Will and went back to bed. When I woke up this morning I saw that Boz had barfed three other places- luckily on the tile.

Good: It’s almost Friday

Bad: Let’s not end on a bad note- it’s almost Friday after all! 

I mentioned I started school already, right?

UGH.

Sorry, but I felt the need to lead with that because it’s all I bloody think about. Why am I willingly inflicting this mental pain on myself!?

...

Get it together woman!

Okay- no more talk of school.

So my goal is to post to my blog once a week now that I’m in school. It felt good to have time to do it during break, but I’m not foolish enough to think I’m going to be able to post every few days now that my life is back to “normal.” So- that’s my goal and I really hope to stick with it.

Let’s not talk about that anymore, okay?

I had a really good weekend.

Will is always so tired when he gets home at night, and we hadn’t made any plans to go out on Friday so I figured it would just be a quiet night in. Plus- let’s not forget we’ve been married almost seven years so there’s pretty much zero spontaneity in our lives.

So I was surprised when he got home, hopped in the shower and told me we were going out. What a fun surprise! We ended up taking a little road trip to Chickasha, Oklahoma. There’s a small little burger joint there called Paw-Paws that’s semi-famous around there. I should have used one of my cheats there, but instead I got a salad, which was a really stupid thing to do at a small town sort of diner. I didn’t even dare ask for vinaigrette. I knew better. I took a bite of Will’s burger and it was DELICIOUS.

Yes- it deserves all caps.

So good. I most definitely should have used one of my cheats for a burger. We’ll definitely be back soon. It was worth the trip.

We ended the evening at Dairy Queen. There’s only a few in the state- one of them being in Chickasha. You can’t go there and not stop, right!? So- I had one of my cheats there- and it was well worth it.

Freaking amazing.

Mind blowing.

Over the top.

Sorry- as you can probably guess, I’ve been sticking to my goals pretty well and really relish my cheats.

Plus it’s DQ. It really is all of those things.

I just had a great night with Will. I know as you read this you’re probably like- wow- he takes her to a dive-y burger joint in small town America and then they go to DQ. Fancy!

(let’s laugh. That sentence seems funny to me.)

But the truth is, it was such a great night. Mostly because we’re so boring and predictable and a random road trip on a Friday night was so great and fun!

Saturday? Saturday was pretty great.

We did the normal shopping, chores and all that other painful boring adult stuff, but Saturday I had my first experience with a pre-workout formula.

I can’t even convey to you how intense and just how… wow… my workout experience was.I realize the rest of this “section” is going to be WAY boring for most of you and even maybe annoying and confusing, but I feel like droning on- so forgive me in advance.

I’ve always been very skeptical of all the weight training supplement “gunk-” and with good reason. A lot of stuff is full of sugar and calories and CRAP that you do not need at all. However, there definitely is good stuff on the market, but I’ve always just never really tried it because I figured what I was doing was good enough.

But then I started thinking- yes, what I’m doing is good, but if I’m serious about meeting my goals I really need to consider supplement options. There’s a reason why some of the most amazing fitness models look the way they do- they eat right, workout hard, and supplement (not to be confused with drugs or steroids!).

Anyway- so I asked around and looked online and it just so happened that a friend had a couple scoops left of the most highly rated all natural pre-workout mix on one of my most favorite fitness sites. So- I was game.

I took it yesterday about 20 minutes before my workout, and had literally one of the best workout experiences I’ve ever had. Yesterday was a leg day and before I knew it I had spent an hour and a half and felt like I was still on my first set. I really wanted to keep going but for the sake of time I had to move on so I ended with some light cardio. It was such an intense workout and even after all the sets I ripped off and the cardio, I was ready to freaking lift a Mini Cooper afterwards. Ha ha- okay now that does sound a little like one of those crazy muscle women sort of things to say. It would be about right -> ____________ there where I would tell you how you don’t have to worry, that I have no ambition of looking like that, but let’s face it- you all know me well enough by now to know that I love frosting enough for that to never, ever happen.

Anyway, pretty freaking amazing workout and I really think this will help me get past where I am right now, a little extra “oomph” to further my progress and where I want to be. It will definitely make my workouts more efficient that’s for sure! Today I did my upper body and used it again and noticed the same difference. I would continue onwward but I realize this is probably very boring.

So let’s move on, yes?

All in all it was a nice weekend, and it was my last weekend of freedom before heading back to school (ha- I thought I said we weren’t going to talk about that anymore!). Everything seems to circle back to school. Ugh- school.

I better get back to reading.

More to come. 

I posted my upper body workout a week ago, but I did a new lower body workout last week and thought I’d post that too. I created 4 weeks worth of new upper, lower, core, and cardio workouts and am going to do them in 2 or 3 week increments for the next few months. This is what I did last week and will be doing this week. When I created it I thought I might be going too easy on myself.

I was wrong.

It never ceases to surprise me how much simply changing things up can make such a difference. Give this workout a try this week:

3 Minutes of Front Lunges
3 Minutes of Back Lunges
Rest 1 Minute
15 Jump Squats
Sumo Deadlift (1 set)
Inner/Outer Thigh Machines (1 set each)
15 Jump Squats
Calf Raises w/Dumbbells (1 set)
Leg Press (1 set)

Repeat 2-3 times.

Stretch. You’ll be glad you did.

Here’s to a tight butt! 

Fluorescent lights should be banned.

They make things stark and raw and wrinkled and highlight all negatives and no positives.

What good are they!?

I know I’m tired. I know my eyes are droopy. I know my skin isn’t always perfect. Must the terrible lighting in my office remind me of such things!?

Seriously.

From now on I say we institute a soft lighting such as those at romantic restaurants. I’m sure in time our eyes will adjust to starting at computer screens in such dim lighting.

And even if they don’t?

Who cares! At least we’ll look fabulous. 

Do not be alarmed.

This is NOT going to become Brittny’s foodie/fitness blog.

Trust me.

As I mentioned, I’m healthy every single day of the work week, so aside from the weekend pain of not eating a pound of beef and an entire strawberry cake, I’ve pretty much got this thing down. However- I thought a good start to my laundry list would be to tell you guys what my plans are for the day!

Everyone lets out a resounding, “Yay!”

...

Or maybe not.

Anyhow, I’m off work today which is pretty exciting.

I started my morning off right with an egg on whole wheat toast. Chick-Fil-A is giving away their spicy chicken sandwich this week so I printed off my coupon and am going to sit with Will this morning while he eats his breakfast.

After that we’re going to see an early movie which will be fun. We’re going to see True Grit. You may remember it has a special place in my heart (ha). I figure if anything it will give me more material to bug Will with. I told him he should give me five bucks for every time they say “little sister.” I could be rich. 

I’ll have my carrots and hummus during the movie. Lunch is a taco salad with extra lean ground turkey, black beans, tomatoes, spinach, and a couple tablespoons of salsa. I made it yesterday and got everything all sectioned off and measured, since I’ll be having it a couple more times this week.

Later this afternoon I’ll have Greek yogurt.

Around the time I have my afternoon snack is the time that Will and I will have probably started arguing.

I believe I’ve mentioned that Will and I aren’t the best at home improvement projects. I don’t know what it is, but the second you get a hammer and nails out at our house it’s as if we rang the boxing bell to begin the brawl.

“In this corner, weighing (muffled by the microphone) and standing at 5 feet 6 inches tall put your hands together for B-Loooooooove!!”

“And in this corner, weighing whatever grown men weigh these days, and standing 5 feet 10 inches tall put your hands together for Misteeeeeeer B-Loooooove!”

And then the bell rings and Will and I knock our gloves together and go at it.

I even joked with Will yesterday about how we should start fighting (ie- hanging our picture) around 2:00.

I’m not sure he thought it was funny.

Maybe it won’t be so bad?

I mean, it has been a while since we’ve taken a major hanging project on. Maybe it will be easy and we’ll find a stud and everything will be even and perfect and thirty minutes later we’ll be sitting on the couch holding hands and complimenting each other’s picture framing abilities.

But I doubt it.

Way to be optimistic, right?

Eh…

I’m not sure what else is in store for us today. I know for dinner I’ll have tilapia with steamed carrots and then later tonight I’ll bake an apple with a little cinnamon and lemon juice.

I’m hoping to squeeze in a workout before dinner or right after. I usually go on the morning but my alarm failed me today so that didn’t happen. Today is an upper body day. I’ve posted my workout below. I superset so I’m constantly working a different muscle group without stopping. Once I hit all the areas I end the set with an ab and rest for a minute or so and start the next.

Yay for days off! Happy Monday to you!

More to come…

Today’s Workout
Chest
Bench Press
Inverted Row
Decline Barbell Press

Back
Bent Over Row
Pull Up
Row Machine

Shoulders
Bent Over Flyes
Barbell Shoulder Press
Front Raises/Flyes

Triceps
Skull Crushers
Cable Tricep Extension
One Arm Cable Tricep Extension

Biceps
Incline Curls
Hammer curls
Concentration Curl

Pushups

Abs
Plank
Elevated Plank
Side Plank
Bear Crawls
Cable Crunch

Hi!

Happy New Year!

Oh no, be warned- I’ve started this post with back to back exclamation points. I see more in the future of this post. Please do not let the cheeriness deter you. I will try to keep the exclamations to a minimum.

But I make no promises.

I hope you all had a great Christmas, and Saturday, and New Year’s Eve. The random Saturday insertion just seemed like the right thing to do… I have no idea why.

Our Christmas was good. We spent the morning with Will’s family and then travelled home late that afternoon. I took that following Monday off which was nice. We ended up going to the “big town” of El Reno, Oklahoma to eat at Sid’s diner. It was a place featured on Man Versus Food. The place was super tiny but the food was good, as we had expected. It was a nice day.

I had Friday off this week which was nice too. We spent a lot of the day shopping. How two people can spend a small fortune at Sam’s I will never know. We went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner that night which was nice and spent the entire time reflecting on 2010 and talking about 2011. It was a good day!

Was all that boring?

Because I sort of feel like it was.

Sorry. The truth is- when Will and I were talking last night about some of the highlights of last year I couldn’t remember some of them and I realize I don’t really talk much about my life anymore here. Which is fine and what I have chosen to do, I suppose, but at the same time it’s sort of nice to be able to look back to my 2005 archives and actually recall a day after reading about it. So I was thinking that maybe once or twice a month I will try to capture more about what’s going on in my life. Mostly for me. I apologize in advance for the boringness.

Okay, enough about that.

Happy New Year!

Did I already say that?

Ah- yes. I did. And then went on and on about all! the! exclamation! points!

Are you a big resolution-er?

I’m not really per say. To a degree I suppose but nothing too extreme. Much like Angela , my goal is to never eat again or lose a million pounds. I never really take it seriously though. My other problem? I make about 15 of them and by mid January I’ve forgotten all of them!

“Wait- did I say I was NOT going to drink coffee and was going to drink more tequila?”

“Or was it not eating trans fats and drinking mroe coffee!?… Or was it tequila!? I know it that was in one of my resolutions somewhere...”

“This is so hard!”

I figure now that I’m another year older and wiser I should probably just suck it up and realize that I am going to have to eat. And losing a million pounds? Well that’s just silly, Brittny!

So this year is about sharing my goals and making them realistic. Also- not to make a dozen. Sure it’s nice to want to do things, I mean, I want to save the world! However, I realize I have to start somewhere. So that’s what I want to do.

Here goes.

1. Be a Failure

I want to fail in the gym this year.

Yes, you heard me right.

A big fat F.

For anyone that spends time in the weight room, you will know what I’m talking about. If you don’t- long story short is that in order to really see growth and really make progress you have to lift to failure which means you have to really exert and exhaust your muscles. I do that now… sort of… but I really take it easy on myself. I really want my time at the gym to be worthwhile, and it won’t be unless I put myself to the test mentally and physically.

My plan for meeting my resolution is to do it- to add the extra weight and document my progress. If I can only do four reps, well I can only do four reps. But with time it will grow to six and maybe even eight. Until I really start making things hard on myself, I won’t see the results I want to.

2. Be Squeaky Clean

The other day I was on the elliptical and a guy jumped on beside me and started working out. The second he walked past me, I gagged. No really- I did. And made a disgusting face.
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The guy smelled as though he had sat in a 4x4 closet where 10 people crammed in there with him and smoked for eight hours straight. And then the 10 people left. But he decided to stay.So he could eat the cigarette butts.

No really- he did.

He ate them.

I’m pretty sure anyway…

As I continued on my second interval set I started to get mad.

Really guy!? Yeah- great plan. Go to the gym and work out but then go smoke six packs a day. That’s a way to be healthy!

How dumb.

I then spent my remaining 20 minutes on the elliptical gagging and turning my head away from The Ash Tray, thinking about how ridiculous this guy was.

I blame the high degree of my irritation on the workout. I think something about having my heart rate up and sweating tends to make me a little more intense than normal."Why bother showing up to the gym?! Your lungs are raisins.”

So as I started my cool down- and started to come back to earth- I realized it was wrong for me to feel the way I did. It’s that guy’s choice to smoke a carton a day. It’s on him. Granted, the second hand smoke is another issue- but let’s stay focused.

The second thing I started to think about was- “Wow pot! You’re calling the kettle black aren’t you!?”

Busted.

Guys- I live in a perpetual state of dissonance. I really do. I emphasize fitness so much in my life, and even go so far to say it’s my passion, yet not all of my lifestyle echos those words. I can go bust my tail at the gym and then go home and eat half a pizza and breadsticks.

And then complain about it for the next 2 hours.

But then repeat the same action the very next weekend.

My point is- I’ll never know how good I can be and what I’m capable of until I put.the.pizza.down!

Just put it down, Brittny.

Down.

I really love food.

I eat healthy just about every week day and then blow it on the weekend. Did I say blow it? What I mean is, calorically I eat enough for two people on the weekends. Maybe even three. Yikes! How awful is that to type!?

I decided that if I want to be my best and see what I’m capable of in the gym, which I claim is my passion, part of my success has to start in the kitchen!

So with all that being said my goal for this year is to eat a clean diet six days a week during 2011 and allow myself one “cheat” day. And when I say cheat day I don’t mean eating an entire box of cereal and washing it down with a double cheeseburger with fries. I mean eating things I enjoy but in much smaller portions.

Moderation Brittny!

So here’s how I plan on meeting this tough goal. I already made my menu for January and February because I know if I write it down and have a plan it will make it a lot easier on my life. I won’t have to spend time thinking about what I’m going to eat- because I’ll already know. This will be particularly handy when I’m start back to school this month.

3. Get Connected

I don’t think I ever told you guys about my funny story of the group we joined at church and then left. It’s too long to tell it here, but trust me, when Will tells the story it has people in tears. Pretty funny.

Anyway, we’re not connected in any sort of small Bible study group and we really need to be. Church is good but it’s also important to be around people our age and have that small group interaction, you know? We’ve become sort of discouraged by our journey in this area, so my hope is that this year we will find a group and get connected.

4. Do well in school.

My plan? Is to just freaking do it, darn it! To read, pay attention, and stay on top of stuff.

5. Be a Better Wife, Friend, and Employee

This girl right here can tell you I’m not always the best at keeping up with communcation. She and Retired Blogger Sarah will have exchanged about five emails to my one sometimes! Granted, there’s going to be times where life is busy, but friends are important and I need to remember that. I have lots of “friends” but very few real true friends and they’re very precious to me and I want them to know that by my actions.

I also want to be the wife to Will that I need to be. We’re a solid team, but I think after almost seven years of marriage (! when did that happen!?) we’ve sort of gotten comfortable with each other and have settled into our life. That’s good and all, but this year I wanted to be mindful of being “nice” and “thoughtful” and more of a “girlfriend” to Will (I have no idea why I put all that in quotations).

You think I’m crazy right?

Trust me, it all makes sense in my head.

Anyway- I went into my calendar and put random things on random days as reminders to do something nice for Will. I know it seems pathetic that I actually have to remind myself to do thoughtful things for Will or surprise him with something, but hey- I’m trying and this is a good way to make sure I’m staying on target!

6. Put it Away: The 2011 Laundry List

I really want to put my laundry away immediately after doing a load. I also don’t want to leave dishes in the sink. I’m pretty sure this is a resolution for me every.single.year. And every.single.year. I don’t follow through. Sure, I do for a few weeks- but before I know it I look at the chest in our bedroom and see a laundry pile the size of a small SUV stacked high. I don’t know why. I also don’t know how two people can generate so much laundry. But it happens. So, let’s hope I actually keep the pile manageable this year. I have a load sitting in there right now- which means I need to get off this computer and start folding! Hey-Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m on it!

So there you have it. My goals for 2011. Knowing I have an action plan and a goal and am drawing a line in the sand by telling you guys, my friends, makes it seem more real.

Here’s to a solid 2011 for all of us.