probably not such a good idea, but...

I usually don't do New Year's Resolutions because I NEVER follow through.  Never.  But this year I think it's time I really attempt to complete some resolutions.  I mean, I'm a grown up with kids now.  I should be able to follow through with these things!  I'm going to keep it fairly simple though.  Let's not go crazy.

1.  I'm going to Wreck This Journal.  Completely.

2.  I'm going to restart my general 365 project and I'm not going to freak out and quit if I miss a day.  I'll just tack on a day at the end.  The project will be 365 pictures, not 365 consecutive pictures.

3.  I'm going to try reallllly hard to lose at least 10 pounds.  I'm actually 3 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight (from Olivia, not Emma, let's not be silly) so I'm pretty darn stoked about that.  If I can come down another 10-15 pounds I'll be really happy.

And that's it.  Because the rest of it, keeping my house clean, being the best wife & mother I can be, etc., etc., those things aren't resolutions.  Those are the ongoing goals I have and will always be working on.

her idea of being pooped is waaaay different from mine

When I picked Emma up from school today she said school was fun, but long and her brain was much bigger from all the stuff she learned.  She said that she was pooped from her long day and wasn’t all that excited to walk home, but since she had Autumn it was okay.

She spent a little time at Autumn’s house and then came home and decided she wanted to play some XBox Kinect. 

When she was done she told me that when the baby comes out I should definitely do Kinect because it will make the chubs go away fast.

Glad she’s looking out for me.

my brother is awesome

Last week we went to Silver Creek Sportsplex to watch my brother play soccer.  He’s played since he was a little kid, but took a break for awhile and recently decided to get back into it.

I have to warn you that these pictures are crap!  I am NOT very good at action photography, even using the action settings on my camera I still suck.  Plus I was shooting through the glass so there’s all kinds of reflection and junk.

Isn’t he so handsome?

Emma generally sees her Uncle he’s generally watching a movie or playing a game on the PS3 or something so she was fascinated with him playing soccer.  When the game started and he was running back and forth she turned to me and said ‘Uncle’s running like he’s never run before!’

Hopefully we’ll get out to see him play again!

Evening Photo Safari

Just before the sun set completely Emma and I grabbed our cameras and headed outside for a little evening photo safari.

Mostly I took pictures of the stuff in the neighborhood that interested me. 

We each took a picture of our neighbor’s garage door because the lights on either side were shining through the high bushes they have on both sides creating this really cool pattern.  Of course, this is the crappiest picture ever, but you get the idea.

Emma had fun, I had fun & we got a little walk in before dinnertime.  How cool is that?  Pat us on the backs please!

As you can tell I’m boycotting editing my photos.  I used Picnik’s rounded edge frames because I love ‘em and I cropped a couple of pictures to get rid of some nonsense.  This week (at least) I’m not editing any pictures I upload for my 365 project because I’m lazy … but also, I want to see what kind of pictures I really take, not what pictures I can make you see.  Hopefully they’re still nice to look at.  I don’t think they’re so bad!

I Really Do Have Friends ... I Swear

I think I mentioned before that I do not make friends easily.  I'm standoffish and constantly afraid of whatever vitriol will spew forth from my mouth at any given time.  Somehow I have accrued friends who are sweet and nice.  I have no idea why they are friends with me.  A few of them are religious.  I wonder if maybe they think they can covert me.  Maybe I'm a project?

Well, better if I don't question it, right?

Anyhoo ... since Emma started preschool I have actually made friends.  They are these hilarious women whose kids play with my kid and now we all go play together.  Over the winter break we thought we'd take the kids to Pump-It-Up, but having no foresight whatsoever we didn't think about it being the last day of vacation and rainy and completely full.  The best thing about Morgan Hill is the Centennial Recreation Center or the CRC.  It has everything, including an indoor pool with a shallow play area.  The kids love it.  So we took them all there since we're members and JeNae decided (as the last holdout) to give in and get a membership.  (The best perk is the discount we get at the preschool for being CRC members)

Of course, I thought, this is awesome!  Work out buddies!  But really, I just figured it would be great to sit and gab with some friends while the kids swim.

JeNae has had other ideas.  We took a step class on Tuesday.  It was not fun.  Apparently, they don't need to advertise in the class schedule that something is an intermediate/advance class.  So there we were.  And at first I thought, well really, how difficult can stepping be?  Oh, I found out it can be extremely difficult.  Extremely.  This wasn't stepping!  This was dancing around and on a platform that constantly wanted to move out of my way.  Like I am so scary it did not want me to step on it.  I swear I almost fell 176 times.  And once, my shoe scraped so loudly off the side that everyone in the class turned around thinking someone had died.  And I pretty much was.  Dead, I mean.

Today we decided to workout on the machines since there weren't any 'fun' classes.  JeNae seems to have much more coordination than I do.  She thinks Zumba might be fun.  Julie & Kim say it is and it kicks your butt, which I'm okay with.  But fun?  If my coordination efforts in step class are any indication I don't think Zumba is going to be fun for me.  But I'll try it out.  Give everyone a good laugh. 

So anyway, my legs are like rubber from jogging for a half hour on the treadmill wondering how in the hell the couple next to me are sprinting whilst discussing how so-and-sos from their wedding are going through financial difficulties.  Sprinting.  And discussing.  Freaks.

But really, it's nice to get out of the house in the evening and do something.  Emma and Autumn get to go do fun crafts and play around at the Kid's Zone and I get to sweat and maybe lose some of this baby fat I've been carrying around for 5 years.  I'm sure Ray appreciates having the house to himself for an hour or so too.  So I guess I'll keep going.  If anything it's fun to watch the elderly run laps around me.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention.  The woman who was the star of the step class and was much easier to watch and follow than the instructor?  She was about eleventy-hundred years old.  Pretty much everyone in the class had about 30 years on JeNae and I.  I want to be them when I grow up.  Which means I'm going to have to do more step.  Ugh.

Missing My Books

This year I thought I would try to read less books.  Yes, less books.  I read 202 books last year and I know I could have read more if I wanted too.

This year I wanted to slow down on the books and ramp up some other hobbies.  I’ve done well.  Emma and I have taken little trips, had some play dates, we’re starting to take walks/ride bikes.  I’ve taken pictures everyday.  Everywhere we go I see things I want to take pictures of so I carry my camera everywhere.  And I’ve been blogging more and reading a lot more blogs from others.  Oh!  I’ve also kept up with the TV shows I watch.  Usually by the end of the TV season I have 22 episodes multiplied by however many shows I’m watching.

But I miss my books!

I’ve only read 7 books this month so far and 6 of those were graphic novels.  Granted, the 1 novel I read was over 1,000 pages so at least that’s something.  I started these other six books a little over a week ago and am only halfway through them all.  And these are books that I’ve wanted to read and have put off already for so long!

So my plan is to read as much as I can, whenever I can.  I will have our play dates and walks and ride bikes.  I’ll continue my couch to 5k training, maybe do enough to lose a few pounds, take a couple of yoga classes and maybe, with prodding from Julie, I’ll attempt a Zumba humiliation course.  I will take my camera with me everywhere.  I will take pictures when I see something that I must preserve.  I will write these rambling blog posts and maybe make you laugh … or not.

No More Excuses

As you know, I have not been very good at my lofty goal-ness.  Since that post on the 9th I still haven’t exercised.  I think about it, but never quite get around to it.

A couple of weeks ago Ray went out to Best Buy and came back with a Nike + for me.  I’ve ‘wanted’ one because it’s nifty and does stuff.  Basically, you put it in your shoe and it keeps track of your workout in conjunction with your iPhone or iPod.  It keeps track of how many miles you’ve run, calories you’ve burned, how long you’ve worked out…etc., etc.

So I decided that it would be great to use with my new lofty goal-ness of exercise, but I needed running shoes that didn’t hurt my feet and I needed some sort of pouch that I could put the sensor in and attach it to the shoe or I needed to get some Nike shoes that were Nike + ready.  I haven’t really been on top of that.

Today we stopped off at the Nike outlet so Ray could get a new sweatshirt and I found some shoes that were comfy and cute and … wait for it … Nike + ready.

Now I’ve Inserted the thingie-ma-bobbie into the shoe and sync’d it up to my iPhone so I’m ready to go.

So now I have no more excuses.  Tomorrow I start my lofty goal-ness.

… Or maybe Monday.

I already suck

So I had planned on much lofty goal-ness for the new year.  Nothing mind-blowing (of course, because ultimately I’m pretty damned lazy). 

Anywho…I was going to try to post at least 5 times out of the week.  The last time I posted was December 30th.  Fail.

I was also going to exercise more.  A testament to how little I do exercise – the first time I typed the word ‘exercise’ I spelled it wrong and had to think about it for about 15 seconds.  I have not been to the CRC (my gym) once this year and I’ve only done Your Shape on the XBox Kinect once.  And even then, it was only the assessment the stupid game has you do, not even a real workout, but I was completely worn out and then sore the next day.  Fail again.

Because I know myself so well I only had three things in my lofty goal-ness wonderment.  Luckily, I have kept up with my take a picture everyday assignment.  I plan on doing a post about that.  Sometime.  If I’m feeling frisky I may just do that tonight.  *wink, wink*

Pooped

Today was the first day of the EA Sports Active 30 Day Challenge. I'm pooped.

My husband, mom, dad and I are all attempting the 30 Day Challenge on the Wii. Ray and I borrowed my sister's Wii Balance Board and took it to my parents' house, gave them a crash course in Wii usage and off we went! I started after I got a phone call from my mom today saying she had already started hers and was wondering if she could pause the game.

On top of the 20 minute workout that included running, walking, lunges, curls, squats, kickboxing and in-line skating. A little over 100 calories burned in 20 minutes. Near the end I didn't think I would make it.

It seems so futile.

To further my new 'get in shape' lifestyle I put Emma on her push tricycle and we walked to McDonald's so she could play in the indoor (air conditioned) play area and I could get my favorite salad, the Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad. Yum. 420 calories with the dressing.

While there, Emma made friends with a little boy probably about 3 years older than her. Twice her age! They ran around the play structure together and discussed subjects as only a 3 year old and a 6 year old can.

Nonsensically.

So after an hour of walking we get home and I plop myself down in front of the TV to watch a little Project Runway and play Farmville on Facebook. The most addicting game EVER. Go fitness!