I am home for the next two weeks, so I FINALLY have time to post on here. On Friday I quit my job as a nanny. Getting underpaid, working long hours, and struggling to make the trip there and back due to time constraints all were factors in my decision. A big part of it was the feeling like I had almost no time to myself, and as such - almost no time to focus on my health.

This post is another kind of summary post - kind of a way for me to just look at the upcoming weeks and start planning, and put the past two months behind me.

Working anywhere from 35-60 hours a week was a huge eye opener for me. Not only did I slack off on eating right, but I also found myself so tired from then lack of iron (hem hem* vegetarianism) and all the commuting I was doing that I didn't have much energy to put into exercising either.

Plus, as a few people commented, sometimes I plan in excess - not allowing room for flexibility. For instance, when I would plan my meals, if I wasn't hungry for something I would suffer through it, but often I would end up eating something I was actually craving later anyway. With fitness, this was the same - I would promise myself that I would workout X amount of times in a week and I would plan my activities to a T. When something came up, and I couldn't do the exercise I planned, I just gave into the defeated, disappointed feeling.

So now I am going to try to live a little. I love to dance - so if I go out to the club and dance (while watching my intake of alcohol) - that counts as my exercise for the day. If I clean enough to break a sweat - that counts too. If I plan to exercise, I will give myself options - go for a walk with a friend, go to the pool, or go to the gym. If one falls through, I can always do something else.

One quote that has been especially motivating recently, when it comes to exercise, is this: "I always regret it when I don't work out, but never regret it when I do." So I'm going to listen to that and keep it in mind in the upcoming weeks.

As for food - I realized that a part of eating healthy is enjoying your food. Of course, this seems like an obvious observation... But seriously! There are plenty of fruits and veggies that I love - so why do I still feel the need to suffer through steamed carrots, apples, or artichokes? It doesn't make sense.

This revelation made me rethink all my meals. From now on, the experts can bite me. I'm not eating the carrots, and that's final.

My last thought for today - vegetarianism. This has been exceptionally hard. I'm not getting enough iron or protein in my diet because of it. And the lack of iron has left me exhausted. So I'm going back to meat. I know how to eat healthy, and deep down eating meat is just delicious.

Until next time.

What a week! I'm finally, finally, FINALLY getting done with my room and all the excessive amounts of unpacking I have to finish. I unpacked the "hard" parts in the living room and kitchen without thinking about the fact that if I didn't unpack my bedroom it would make me nuts for weeks. Last night I considered my workout all the up-and-down trips I was making to put things in the basement, do my laundry and hang things like curtains and mirrors. I still have at least one more night of unpacking things, but I'm so relieved that I'm almost done.

Diet and exercise.. I know it has been forever since I wrote on here (or so it seems) but life has been crazy! My little brother came to visit for five days, so I was busy watching him (and trying, desperately, to eat healthy with an 11-year-old sugar addict in the house) and then prepping for my birthday. I turn 22 this weekend!

My big celebration is revolving around a Will & Grace marathon, and lots of good food at restaurants that I am not paying for. My friends are paying sometimes, and then ON my birthday I eat for free at Shady Maple, Denny's, and Red Robin. Yum! Of course, the irony of surrounding my birthday weekend with tempting and (super unhealthy) foods and then writing about it on here does not escape me.

Anyway, on Friday I got a book on the Biggest Loser, a 30-day diet and fitness plan. On Saturday I food shopped to make the recipes for the upcoming week. I totally forgot that I would be getting dental surgery on Monday.... And Tuesday... And Wednesday... UGH. I also did not take into account that I would be unable to eat solid foods for those days and now unable to eat hard foods for 5 weeks. Yipes. Maybe a liquid diet will lead to weight loss anyway? (Thank goodness I love fruit smoothies and soup!!)

As for exercise, I walked 30 minutes on Sunday while my brother was here (and he played in the skate park while I walked the mile-long trail three times - with hills.) After my 30-minute walk, Austin acted as my trainer and timed me doing strength moves in the shade of the highest hill in the park. In return, I watched him try to do skate tricks... on a scooter.

Monday I made a point to walk to the dentist from work with Austin. It's about a mile and a half and it was super hot - so I definitely sweated off those donuts I had in the morning.... After the first surgery my mouth hurt a lot, and I ended up out of work the last two days because I had to keep going back to the dentist for more work. By Wednesday, the dental staff started to suggest that I get paid for coming in - since I'm there every day. I laughed, but seriously?! No more novacaine for a LONG time. Please?

That's all for now. Maybe I'll re-name this blog "Liquid Madness" for the next few weeks, since I'm going to get so sick of living through a straw!!

Until next time, thanks for reading ;-)