+1

i gained a pound. womp womp.

no worries... i'm going to keep my head up and continue the work out schedule! up to 6 days of cardio a week now.

i'm off to the pool. it's supposed to be 100 degrees all weekend.

jimbo and...

jim's in d.c. right now... working his butt off. he's taking two classes at GW and working on the hill. in his free time, he's meeting VIPs.

Remember him?


He's also met tons of Republicans, but I'm not going to support THAT endeavor by posting pics of it here.

training session #3

So last night, we did our workout with half of a deck of cards. (I think eventually we'll build up to a full deck.) For every black card flipped over, I would do an exercise on my lower body. For every red card, an exercise on my upper body. We did abs at the beginning, middle, and end. I could play either of my two jokers at any point in the 40 minutes to get a 2 minute break. As you probably guessed, the value of the card equaled the number of reps completed. But, if the trainer wasn't happy with the number she'd multiply it, or double it, etc. It was intense!

The greatest feeling came at the end, though. I had done it! I was so proud of myself for completing whatever she threw at me. I know that two weeks ago there's no way I could have done it.

This week I'm going to concentrate on cardio. Hopefully I'll begin jogging. Oooooh man.

Thanks for the support!

quote

"This isn't the elevator to the skinny floor, there are ups and downs."

Today I'm feeling a little more down than up but I'm still going to make good choices (even if those choices are made at Inoko Express.)

week 2 of training

So my second training session was last night. Let me just say, I was feeling so good going into this session because my workouts had been really great last week and I could already feel a difference in my flexibility and in my strength. That said, Rena (my trainer) took me and my confidence down a notch.

The workout started with me running up and down a flight of 40 stairs 5 times. By the end my legs were shaking and as a result the rest of the workout was kind of shaky. I think the steps combined with the fact that I hadn't eaten much that day sort of hindered the work out. That's okay, though, I still think I made progress.

I'm sore today, but I know it will be worse tomorrow. I worked out again tonight but I'll be taking tomorrow OFF so that my muscles can recover.

I just need to remember that this whole journey is a marathon... not a sprint.

weight loss

So, as most of you know I've been trying to lose weight since early December of this year (but let's be honest... the holidays are awful for life changes like this one so it really got going in the new year.)

Before I went home in May I had lost 27.5 lbs with the goal of losing 50 before Jessie's wedding on August 1. I gained a little while I was home but I've been really serious about it again since I've been back since it's crunch time.

SO! This past week has been serious. I had my first session with my trainer on Tuesday and was pretty sore Wednesday and couldn't walk on Thursday. Awesome. It hurts so good. :)

I'm supposed to be doing between 30-60 mins of cardio 5 days a week and a full body strength training routine three times a week. I'm also supposed to stretch twice a day. So far so good.

Combine this new routine with my ongoing weight watchers points, and I'm hoping to see great results really fast. I can already tell that my flexibility is much more pronounced and I feel much better since I've been back on the WW path.

The biggest change that I've noticed in myself, though, is my attitude towards the whole thing. I had really gotten to a place where my weight overwhelmed me and just the thought of beginning the process of losing it was too much. Now that I've started, I can't see myself stopping. It's addicting to feel good and see the change.

So I'll keep you all up to date on how fast (or slow) the change happens.

summer

so far this summer has been pretty amazing. i spent 3 weeks in OH and now i'm back in ATH. i started my new job last week in which i'll be creating first year connection programs for a small community college near ATH. i spent most of my first week doing research on what other schools do for first year experience (FYE) and this week i'll be putting together a more concrete schedule, etc.

the best part of the summer has got to be the time i spend at the pool. i layed out most of the friday and spent a good part of saturday out too. i was going to lay out today but i was feeling a little crispy after the first two so i sat today out.

in short, i'm working for the weekend.

j & k plus 8

so... i've always been a big jon and kate plus 8 fan. especially after last summer when i had zero job and zero school... i spent a good portion of the summer watching the show. i LOVED it. but then they moved into a new big house, and now with these CRAZY rumors running amuck on the internet and in the gossip mags (both of which i read pretty religiously) it has really gotten me into a tizzy. i mean it's not even genuine anymore to me. instead of being a normal family, they're living in a mansion and they're celebrities. i find myself feeling genuinely sad about the whole debacle.

i think i need to stop reading all of the gossip. maybe i shouldn't dvr the show either.

ugh.

i'm still here

I'm alive. :)

I've been super busy with...

traveling back to OH for several weeks.

being a maid of honor.

getting back on track weight wise after aforementioned trip to OH.

starting a new j-o-b.

planning my summer travel.

more on all of this later.

xoxoxo.

personal shower

So I'm back in OH for a few weeks and one of the things I'm most excited about is throwing Jessie's Personal Bridal Shower. Anyone have suggestions for gifts?

I'm thinking I'm going to put together a wedding day survival kit. This one looked pretty complete. Any suggestions on things to add?

Next I need to find options for a cake...

I love being a MOH!

today

instead of me trying to write about what happened in athens today... i will instead forward you to a blog written by my friend and co-worker, Kat. She participated in the local theatre with all of those who were sadly taken from the Athens community today. She has written beautifully about all three of them. www.tumultuouslove.blogspot.com

april

april has been... busy. a lot of ups. a lot of downs. but mostly i'm looking forward to may.

1. i found an INTERNSHIP! i'll be working at gainesville state college- oconee campus. i'll be creating an entirely new first year experience program for both traditional and non traditional students. i'm really excited to get a new experience (different type of school, different functional area, etc.) i'll also be working here at uga for a few hours a week to make some extra cash. woot.

2. i'm still holding at 25 lbs. i got that low, then gained a few pounds (thanks to ben's bday extravaganza) took two weeks to get back to 25, and now i haven't moved from there. in order to not lose my mind i'm going to tell myself that it's because i've been working out a lot more (4 times/week for 40 mins) and the while i'm losing fat i may be gaining muscle. oh man. that better be what's going on.

3. i come home in ELEVEN days. i will be done with finals and turn 23 in TEN days. i just can't get over it. year one? check.

a lot is going on in athens and at uga today. we're in the news for all the wrong reasons. maybe i'll blog about that later.

easter

two weekends ago (i know... i'm REALY behind on blogging) i had friends from my cohort over for easter dinner. it was so much fun. i even made a ham (which officially makes me an adult) and a strawberry cake from scratch! here are some pics from our delish dinner.

benji's bday

A few weeks ago was my friend Ben's bday. We celebrated in ATL with dinner at Marlow's Tavern and drinks and dancing at Halo. The music could have been better but there was definitely no shortage of entertainment. hahaha.

Some pics of the extravaganza...

Abby even came down for the weekend of festivities.


I tried to upload other pics from the weekend but photobucket is being RIDICULOUS.

(Sorry for all of you who got this in your google reader 75 times while I tried to fix the formatting of the pics.)

relay for life!

If you're reading this, then you've probably been bombarded by my e-mails to give to a great cause: Relay for Life. About a month back, our wonderful, 34 year old (too young) professor told us that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. To say that we were taken by surprise is the understatement of the year.

This wasn't the first time someone in my life had been diagnosed. In fact, it's happened all too often to our family and great friends of our family. My dad lost two of his best friends to cancer in less than two years. It's not fair to them. It's not fair to their families. And it's not fair for my dad to lose two friends before they were able to move past age 55.

In short: It's heartbreaking.

SO... enough with the sad part of it (because we all know it could go on for days...) Our program decided to rise up and do something about it. We formed a Relay for Life Team and set a goal for ourselves ($2000.) We ended up exceeding our goal and raising $2290. yay!

The event was last Friday. We had the greatest time. Even if people weren't able to attend the event, people participated in other ways (Bonnie of course made a TONS of food, Margaret donated a tent, etc.) It was so nice to be able to spend time with one another outside of class, and to band together to support the cause, instead of wallowing in our sorrows. It gave us a way to act.

Also, Christy and Kevin were able to pull together t-shirts to wear to the events. They had a cartoon drawing of Dr. Espino on them and they said "Dr. Espino is my homegirl." It is my new favorite shirt by FAR.

Check out the pics below. :)

Sam, Caleb, and Larry


Christy


Our Team (well.. part of it.)


The tent (note the sweet balloons my mom sent dr. espino and our team! I wish I had thought to get a better picture of them. THANKS, MOM!)

33 days

until I am d-o-n-e. Done. With my first year of grad school.

Unreal.

I can't wait to see all of you in 34 days.

witness.

I've recently become obsessed (or actually came to terms with my obsession, as some may argue) with the state of OH.

My newest interest? Lebron. Check out this Nike commercial.



Love it. He throws chalk into the air at the beginning of every game. It sounds ridiculous and if any other player from any other team did it I would think so too.

Just another great OHIOAN giving back to the great state of OHIO.

balance

This one goes out to all of my over achieving friends.

updates updates UPDATES

still no internship. womp womp. but other GREAT things are going on.

1. i'm down TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS. so excited!

2. i've had a slew (sp?) of visitors. Amanda and her bf Jamie were here last weekend. We started in ATL with dinner with Meg and Brendan and then explored Athens for a few days. Here's a pic to document that it actually happened.






3. This weekend Abby is hanging out and we're going to ATL to celebrate Ben's birthday! We're so excited to go to dinner and go out and spend time with some of our fav people.

4. I'm doing RELAY FOR LIFE! After hearing about one of my professor's breast cancer diagnosis at age 34, I have been called to act. Donate to my relay team at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/daphneeverhart.

More later about Relay especially.

xoxoxo.

in august

The four people in this picture will be reunited.

(Please note the fact that my eye is so irritated that it felt like it was going to fall out.)

In this place.


And we're going to this place.


And this one.


And maybe even this one.



I CANNOT WAIT.