back yet once again

yeah, i know....in my post this past january, i started writing a blog entry and was so excited to be back here once again with full intention of keeping up my writing. so here it is six months later and i'm just getting around to my second post...and i only stumbled upon my blog site since i was reading a friend's post and had to log into mine to be able to comment on hers.

but i've had quite a bit of good stuff happen over the past six months or so to write about....last december, i started my new years' resolutions (i don't like the pressure of starting in january, so i kicked mine off a little early!) with four general resolutions for the upcoming year. i've posted these to the fridge so that i have to look at them every day. here's what they were/are:
1. eat healthier
2. move it!
3. write a book
4. learn something new

so far, i've actually kept going with two of them and am working on a third. starting in december (although i did cheat a bit over the holidays) i decided to cut out sugar in a big way....no more just grabbing a cookie or a piece of candy without thinking about what i was putting in my mouth. i also started checking out the labels of what i was eating....after reading some books focusing on food and eating habits, and seeing movies like 'super size me' and 'food inc.' i got a bit skeeved out at all of the preservatives and chemicals that are in our food and what it does to our bodies....so now, instead of picking up the quick 'ready-made' convenient foods at the grocery store, i use a lot more whole foods and make things from scratch. it was a bit rough getting used to at first because yes, it does take more time...but now that i'm used to it, i actually find that i'm more creative in the kitchen and enjoy it a lot more. after all, it really is more fun to make a stir fry and throw in whatever veggies you want and season your chicken however you want it rather than relying on lean cuisine to do it for you.

another thing i did on my track to a healthier life style was cut out beverages that just added empty calories. we love taking morgan to story time at b&n on saturdays, and our special treat was always hitting the cafe afterwards, for a strawberry smoothie for her and a caramel latte or frap for me. but man, when i stopped and actually looked at the sugar and calorie content of one of those drinks, i was blown away. same way with vitamin water...i love the stuff and used to drink it just about every day for lunch. and even though it's naturally sweetened, that still adds up to lots of sugar and calories that i really don't need tacked onto whatever else i'm having. sure, i still splurge once in a while, but my mainstay drinks now are water with lemon, coffee and i've even gotten used to drinking unsweetened tea and iced tea. the artificial sweeteners really aren't good for ya and end up making you hungry in the long run, so i just cut them out and don't miss them now that i have them out of my system. and the bonus out of all of this is, i dropped about 10 pounds without even trying.

but since 'moving it!' was on the to-do list, i knew that i had to supplement the healthy eating with being active. a friend teaches pilates and i took some classes and was amazed at how it really does change the structure of your body. without even dropping much weight, i could tell a difference in how my clothing fit and how toned my muscles started to become. and exercise is a funny thing....it takes a while to get into the habit of doing it, but once you do, you realize how good it makes you feel. even though i used to go the gym a lot when i was single and was pretty in shape, that slacked off when i dated my bf before dork and then when dork and i got serious, we ordered take out a lot and spent lots of time in front of the tv or going out to bars and restaurants, so the gym-going stopped and the pounds crept on.....and more crept on during pregnancy but i always had every excuse in the book after morgan was born for why i couldn't exercise, since i'm a working mom and didn't want to take time away from her. however, i'm blessed to work at a place that has gym equipment and workout facilities readily available, and it finally clicked that i can work out during the day and not take any time away from her. besides the pilates, i started walking and even running, and i even take a kickboxing class at the place where she takes karate....and i'm blown away at how good i feel and how much more energy i have, and how i WANT to exercise (yeah, i know...i can't believe i'm actually saying that). and if i don't get a chance to work out during the day, i'll go at night before she goes to bed, as i actually feel like it sets a good example for her to see me exercise and be healthy.

writing the book was third on the list and even though that hasn't progressed as well as i'd like, i discovered during a four-hour road trip this past weekend that one of my best friends has always wanted to collaborate on a book with someone, so we are putting our two brains together and working on something that will be partly autobiographical, partly chick lit and hopefully really funny! we're looking forward to the process of putting something down on paper and kicking this thing off....and hopefully it will have a better track record than my wayward blog entries!

time flies...but this is ridiculous!

yes, it really has been TWO effing years since i last blogged. why, you ask? well, for starters, life just got in the way. my daughter got older, work got busier, i got involved in more things, ad the time i used to spend on my computer in the evenings after my daughter went to bed either got sucked up by farming, offing mafiosos, or going to sorority parties on facebook. the free time in the evenings is also farther and more few between just by spending more time with morgan, since she's now older and stays up later and wants to be with me during most of her waking moments.

i also consciously stopped blogging for awhile when i noticed that i talked about someone in my blogs in a way that may have been interpreted by that person as unkind -- and then found out that person was looking at my blog on a regular basis when i wasn't even aware that they knew i had a blog...so to not come off as a bitch that was ranting, i decided to cool things for awhile. i'm back now, though; quite frankly i missed it. i love to write and i no longer write as much in my job as i used to and i miss the creative outlet...plus i have an idea for a book and i know that, to get in practice for writing a book means that i have to actually WRITE, so this is a means of getting my feet wet again! i'm glad to be back...