drumroll....#50!!!

This is my 50th blog on this page. I've been putting it off for awhile because I sort of felt it was some kind of milestone and I should write something profound. Then I remembered I'm lazy and don't really care so I'll bore you with my new years resolutions:)

If you follow my blogs on myspace, you might remember this one about New Years Resolutions. I had decided that I was just setting myself up for failure by having yearly resolutions and I wanted to do weekly ones instead. Mine for the week were:

1) Cut out all refined sugars from diet and substitute raw sugar or honey.
2)Walk 30 mins and jog 30 mins every day
3) Scrapbook Panama and Hawaii trips
4) Write Christmas Thank You Cards

and then I sort of never mentioned it again. Well, here is an update! I have cut out pretty much all refined sugars out of my diet except for an occasional slip up, i.e. coffee and cake at a baby shower this weekend. The walking and jogging happened like 3 days that week I think. I now have a lovely scrapbook of both Panama and Hawaii. If you gave me a Christmas present, then you have probably realized by now you are NOT getting a thank-you card. THANK YOU though and I really am grateful.

I have come to realize that me being a perfectionist gets in the way of a LOT of things. Take for example thank-you cards. I want to use beautiful stationary and write long heartfelt messages. So, I look through my stationary and decide there is none I like and I need to buy some. So, 2 weeks later I finally do. Then I want to write long heartfelt messages that show people how much their gifts, whatever they are, really touched me. But I don't have the time so I put it off and put it off until March is almost over and I would rather not embarrass myself by reminding people that I was just getting around to sending out thank yous. In reality if I just jotted down a quick note and sent them out people would be fine.

I am really trying to stop being such a perfectionist and to have a "something is better than nothing" attitude about more things.

Keeping this in mind, I decided to try to make some progress as far as my eating, exercising, and paying off debt goes. I have joined Curves gym. I had been wanting to start going back to Kennedy for so long, but its so expensive and between work and school I really would have no time unless I was going to go at 6AM and I get too little sleep as it is. So, since my friend Beth had recently joined and was getting such great results, I decided to try it too! I joined March 4th and have worked out almost every day since then. I have also started drinking tons of water. This has been something I have always struggled with, but after I started working out I found out I'd die if I wasn't getting enough H2O.

I have had NO soda in the past 2 weeks except 1/2 a cup at a family dinner (Jerad's) this weekend.

Its only been 2 weeks, so I haven't really noticed a difference yet except that I am sleeping a lot better and have had less headaches. I get my first weigh-in April 4th which is just 2 and a half weeks away and I am really hoping to have lost a few inches by then:)

At home we are eating almost exclusively organic meat, dairy, fruits and veggies. I try to only buy things with no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils and to choose wholegrain complex unrefined carbs, instead of the simple refined "white" stuff.

As far as debt goes, we have paid off ALL of Jerad's credit card debt *claps* and I am down to one card with about $1500 that I hope to have paid off in the next 2 months. This is HUGE for me because I accumulated a lot of stuff after the divorce when I was on my own as far as bills go for awhile.

I am so happy with this year so far. It seems like everything is finally falling in place. School has been HARD and I don't get much sleep, but I am learning new things and doing well. Jerad is loving it too, mostly because he is interested in all the classes we have. I feel so accomplished everyday when I force myself to go workout. We are finally finishing all the projects around the house. I've been hanging out with my friend Beth at least once a week and its been soo nice to have "girl time" and get to vent/share/talk to someone who has a lot in common with me and is married to someone very similar to Jerad.

I really hope the rest of the year keeps getting better! Our next item on our "to-do list" is to find a church we really like. We have tried a bunch in North County and I just don't feel like any are really clicking. I think we will branch out to SLO or Pismo which is unfortunate because that means a 30-45 minute drive each way but I think going to a church that doesn't fulfill you is pointless so the drive will be worth the effort. I'll keep you updated!