Like this...with less y'all.

You guys, the COOLEST THING happened to me yesterday!  I almost got run over and lost my pants!

Yeah, I might need to back up.

I was heading across the street to pick up Subway for lunch (yes yes yes I realize I said I wasn't going to do that any more.  Clearly I was in the middle of some sort of psychotic break that day) and I was too pressed for time to walk down to the cross walk...so I broke the law, took my life into my own hands, and played human frogger.

I work on a five lane road, Subway (and Baskin Robbins, and Five Guys, and Starbucks and Robeks and Brueggers and Ruby Tuesday and Fridays) are across the street. On my side of the road...McDonald's.  Mneh.   So I saw an opening, and I went for it.  And by that I mean I RAN.

Ok yes it was, I don't know, however wide a five lane road is...I'm not talking the Cleveland Marathon here...but it didn't hurt my back, knees, ankles or feet and I didn't get even a teensy little bit out of breath.

 

Ok I didn't even think I looked good for a half second because the next AWESOME thing happened too quickly....my pants almost fell down!!!

A little like this, with less "y'all"

But you guys!!!  It's WORKING!!  Umm...I mean of COURSE it's working.  I never doubted it for a second!

I have been more than a little disappointed in myself lately.  My weight hasn't budged in something like two months.  Honestly I'm amazed it hasn't gone UP.  I have been working out sporadically (which is like a squillion times more than I did before Beachbody) and I've been eating too much in the evening (but doing pretty well during the day) and while I've been known to discount the value of small changes it would appear that these small changes have joined forces to create either a smaller waistline or increased gravity as applied to my pants and decreased as applied to my back, knees & ankles.

I'm choosing to believe it's the waistline thing.

Just imagine what will happen when I actually APPLY myself.  Because this is taking FAR TOO FREAKING long, and for good reason.  I'm a total slacker.

So the next Beachbody meeting is in something like a month.  I have a team t-shirt that is a bit too small that I WILL wear to that meeting.  And it will not be too small.  I'll post a picture.

Hey look...down there....it's a gauntlet.

Today's lunch.  Salad bar.  I don't want to talk about it.


Beeteedubbs:  http://beachbodycoach.com/TGILLAND    Just sayin'!  :)

Life's like this....

.... that's the way it is

I had THE BEST weekend.  I got to spend the better part of Saturday with my Beachbody family, refilling my resolve, determination and enthusiasm as I gained knowledge and enjoyed the company of some awesome, amazing, fun and inspirational people.  I followed that up with dinner with one of my best friends.  Did a lil' shopping, new shoes are always good, even if they're more cute and practical than pretty.

I got to hang out a little on Sunday with one of my other favorite people, enjoyed some beautiful weather, walked my dogs, pumped some iron.  There are very few things, aside from the company of two special gentlemen, one being my offspring and the other being...well...not....that could have made this weekend any better.

I like you the way you are
When we're drivin' in your car
and you're talking to me one on one

Then Monday hit.  And holy cow you guys...it tumbled down on me like a ton of bricks.  Broken, rough, spikey bricks.  That had recently been sprayed by skunk.

It started out with The Boy oversleeping, then announcing that his throat hurts "SOOOOOO BADDDDD MOM!!!!" and asking to stay home from school.

Chill out , what you yellin' for?

I caved. 

When I rolled my butt out of bed I realized it was a tad chillier in the house than normal.  Sho'nuf ye olde thermostat showed 64 when it was set on 68.

You're tryin' to be cool you look like a fool to me

Unfortunately it's not really cold enough today to make The Boy wish he had gone to school, but if it goes from 60 today to 10 tomorrow it would certainly not be the first time in the history of Cleveland weather.  So as undesirable as the bill is going to be, a guy will be working on it before the day is out.

Then I got word that a dear friend got some troubling medical news.

Life's like this you
You fall and you crawl and you break

and you take what you get...

I've learned the hard way to NEVER say "What NEXT!!".  The answer is never good.  But seriously...today sucks.

And you know, if I could just get out of my own head.  If I could only stop WORRYING about everything and everyone under the sun....nothing would turn out any differently.  

The guy I am oh so into, who I'm starting to think is not so into me....

promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it, no, no, no

....will either be or he will not.  

The furnace will either cost a fortune to get fixed or it will not.  My friend's health issue will be what it will be.  

The boy is either legitimately sick, in which case it's a sore throat and not the end of the world, or he is sitting on my back deck smoking pot and laughing at his gullible mother. 

You're watching your back like you can't relax

All of these things are going to turn out one way or another whether I worry about them or not. 

Why you have to go and make things so complicated?

So yeah, waah waaah waah....poor me.  

Focusing on the positive.  Tomorrow evening I get to go see the Cavs.  In a suite, for free, with my coworkers.  I've never been to a pro basketball game.   I'm pretty lucky there.  

Another positive....they're done effing with the time for another six months.  Because seriously, that shit pisses me off.

And there is still the wonder of Diet Coke in the world....

Today's lunch....chicken corn chowder & diet coke.

Chill out , what you yellin' for?

How Do I Stop and Enjoy the Pizza?

GOD!  I make myself nuts!  I am the least patient person I know, and that pisses me off.  I have this uncanny ability to ignore what is good in anticipation of the next thing.

I. MUST. STOP. THAT!!

It's like....and I must preface this analogy by saying I don't like it one little bit.  My mother wrapped every life lesson in food...I'm better than that.  Aren’t I?  Why yes, yes I am.  But I'm also not patient enough to figure out a better way of putting it rightthisverysecond.

So it's like….I'm eating pizza for lunch.  It's good pizza.  It's awesome pizza.  I'm talking a nice buttery crust, crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.  Minimal sauce.  Tons of cheese.  Dripping just the right amount of grease.  Pizza Nirvana. But all I can think about is what I'll make for dinner.

How do I stop and enjoy the pizza?

So I'm working on that.  And honestly it takes real, conscious, often difficult effort to just stop in the moment and go "Ahhhhh...wow, this is really nice".  That may not SOUND like work...but to me, it is no easier than shoveling the driveway.  Yes FAR FAR FAR more enjoyable, but no easier.

So today I have the whole house to myself until The Boy comes home this evening.  I have nowhere to go and all day to get there.  I need to work out, I have a phone meeting at 2 with one of my favorite Beachbody people so it’s not really work.   I should probably get started on my taxes but hey, it’s barely March so if I don’t, it’s no biggie.  Beyond that, my time is my own. 

Ahhhhh…..wow this is really nice.

Today’s lunch….Chicken Pesto Pizza.  This is so simple that I can hardly call this a 'recipe', but since Pinterest has been quite kind in contributing to my traffic (up from 10 a day to about 20....you think I'm kidding?  Sadly, no) I'm going to start posting step by step pics of my oh-so-simple culinary experiments.


So I started with these awesome things:

Actual honest to goodness pizza crust would obviously work, but I really like Flat Out.  It gets crispy and yummy and is good for you too.


To that I added pesto.  Store bought.  If you prefer to make your own, God bless you and you are a better woman than I.  And to be clear, I really like pesto, and I don't have a significant other to complain about my breath.  So make yours look like this at your own risk!

The chicken I used was from some leftover (previously frozen) fried chicken.  I'd like to say that I threw the skin and breading away and that I did not eat it like an appetizer....yes I'd like to say that indeed, but I will not.


At this point you can add your choice of veggies...I like tomatoes and bell pepper.

And then, of course, lots of mozzarella cheese.

I popped it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, then set on low broil just long enough to finish melting the cheese without over-toasting the 'crust'.


And here's what you get:

Life Begins Outside Your Comfort Zone

You guys blogging is really hard.  Boo hoo hoo.

Ok you know I love it, and when one person joked with me yesterday after several badly executed text-while-walking attempts (the problem was the walking not the texting) that I should perhaps give up the written word I said “I would sooner give up breathing.”  But as someone who writes best when she writes from the heart, about things with which she has direct experience, I can tell you that sometimes it is really hard to find things to write about that don’t fall into the category of oversharing. 

One of my favorite quotes (and this is saying something since I collect quotes like some collect pocket lint) is “Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self” – Cyril Connolly

I have no other knowledge of this Connolly dude, but I like how he thinks.

I do, in a big way, write for you guys.  But writing for you guys gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling and that is, obviously, for me. And I stay true to my beliefs and I write the truth.  I will never be accused of having no self if I have anything to say about it.  And I have something to say about most anything.

So if I seem to be beating about the bush, not really sharing every thought that enters my head as I have occasionally been accused of doing, it’s just because there are other people’s thoughts to consider here. 

The other day I found myself sitting in a parking lot waiting for a gentleman.   Not randomly hoping one would show up, but one in particular who was on his way.  We had been texting for about a week and I was very anxious to meet him.   Ok I was freeping terrified.  Certainly not the first online match that resulted in an in person meeting, and these meetings always make me nervous, but this went beyond nerves.  This was stark, shaking head to toe, terror.  I wasn’t especially concerned that he would chop me up in little pieces, though the possibility is never too far back in my mind, but I was more worried that the in-person meeting would not compare to the written conversations.  I was afraid we wouldn’t like each other or, worse yet, I would like him and he wouldn’t like me.

And this little motivational tidbit sprung to mind: 

Life Begins Outside Your Comfort Zone.

It’s a big thing in Beachbody.  And yeah I get it.  Sometimes it’s uncomfortable trying to sell to someone but if you don’t ask the answer is always no. Yes my friends, today is cliche day.  And if we don’t push ourselves far beyond our comfort level physically then change will never happen.  But it never occurred to me to apply this principal to regular life.

So as I sat there in the car waiting for this man to arrive, shaking from the top of my flat ironed hair to the bottom of my cute shoes (dating is exhausting you guys…I put on MAKEUP, on a SCHOOL NIGHT!!!) I just kept telling myself that the more afraid I was the more out of my comfort zone I was and therefore the more awesome it could be.

I was right.  And that’s all I’ll say about that right now J

Today's lunch.  Boring soup.  Not even worth a picture.