Hi, 2011.

I feel like the appropriate thing to do would be to write some sort of commemorative blog about my year in review or something along those lines. However, "appropriate" really isn't my style, so I'm just going to go for a more stream-of-consciousness approach.

AM and I had a fun weekend! We ended up going out with some friends on New Year's Eve, but didn't do anything extravagant. We kept it low-key at a local bar and had fun. We spent most of New Year's Day trying to decide what to eat, which resulted in a quick (after four hours of deliberating) run to a local Chinese takeout place. Throughout this sweet and sour journey, the paparazzi photographed me trying to find a menu I'd thrown away.



Desperate times call for desperate measures. Clearly.

Oh! Saturday night I performed in an improv show - 1/1/11! I had a blast and played Sit Stand Lean Oscar, ABC Buzzer Holiday Story, Emo Interview (straight), and Remote Control Styles. The audience was great and the cast was a lot of fun. Hooray to kicking off the new year with improv!

I'm in denial about the fact that I'm about to go into the office. You know I LOVE returning to work after an abnormal holiday schedule.

So, I've set some resolutions for myself, but they're relatively simple. I'm mainly working on developing some better habits, which will hopefully be facilitated by my Habit Streak app. Yes, I have become that phone person. Anyway, I'm trying to develop better habits as far as exercising, writing, lung health, organization, and overall well-being, so we'll see how it all shakes out. I like the feeling of a new year; it gives me a sense of freedom even though it's really no different than the week before. What gives?!

Happy 2011! Let's make it a swell one!

Yen

Hi!

Well, I am all Cortisoned up since the last time I wrote. The injection went well; it was much easier than last time. It was the exact same procedure, but last time I had no idea what was going to happen. This time, though, I was mentally prepared to feel like my chest was collapsing, so I wasn't concerned when it happened. The soreness seems to be better this time, too, or maybe it's just that I was expecting it... Hopefully it will stop hurting in about 24 hours!

Umm, my friend AM is in town. Awesome! We have kept it pretty low-key, but we did go out to Willy's for lunch and had sushi for dinner with JM. It was like a Dominican Republic reunion. I love dinners with friends!

I'm exhausted because we stayed up really late after her arrival last night (or I guess technically today). We have agreed to sleep in tomorrow... big time!

My new phone is still making me really happy. I learn new tricks all day long!

We haven't figured out yet what we'll do tomorrow night, but I'm sure it will be fun. Cheers to a wonderful 2011, y'all! It's resolution time!

2010

Welcome to 2010! I just ate a nutritious dinner to kick off the new year. I had a double steakburger, double onion rings, and a mocha shake... Steak and Shake, baby! Clearly I didn't make any resolutions about eating healthily. I'm still trying to work out what my resolutions are going to be. Maybe I should make a resolution to make New Year's resolutions for 2011. Two of my definite goals are to do my vest at least three hours a week and make an effort to work only 40 hours a week for my own sanity.

Well, let me just say that New Year's Eve was so much fun! I ended up going to a hotel party with a group of six girls. It was sooooo hilarious. The crowd was twice our age and it was such an adventurous night. We went out to eat at Bahama Breeze and then went to the party in the hotel bar/lounge area. It was definitely one of the best NYEs I've ever had! I woke up in the middle of the night and had 39 text messages, so that was funny. We met a guy we named T-Boz, I got a ROSE!, people went swimming in dresses, we received a complaint from the hotel staff about being too loud... all in all it was a success!

My book is coming along really well! I know my goal was to complete it by the end of the year, and it's truly almost there. I think it's practically complete writing-wise; now it's just in the editing/reorganizing/filling in blanks phase. I'm really looking forward to it being a total hit!

My friend Anne and I are sitting here watching Office Space - this movie is so inspirational and accurate. I appreciate it more and more each time I see it. We have had a pretty lazy day, other than the fact that I went to my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary party.

So, yesterday an incident went down at my house. My roommate was vacuuming and a circuit tripped (or whatever it's called). Anyway, I think the breaker has gone bad because we can't make it come back on now... at all. There are no lights downstairs and none of the outlets in the living room work. We have a huge orange extension cord connecting the TV to an outlet in the kitchen and a lamp from upstairs sitting on the kitchen floor. It looks pretty...trashy.

Well, we're gonna crash early tonight since last night didn't entail much sleeping. I can't wait!

Subconscious mind

Let me just tell you how powerful your subconscious mind is. Well, how powerful mine is. I know I sound like a psychobabbling buffoon right now, but get this... In my last post, I mentioned working on my book and how I knew the answer would come to me soon. Well, as I was laying down for bed that night, it hit me like a ton of bricks. There's still some significant ironing out to do, but I spent three hours transforming it tonight. I am feeling super-relieved and excited, although it's a major change from my original concept. Looking back, I have no idea how this didn't come to me sooner!

New Year's Eve is just around the corner and, per usual, I am not a fan of the holiday. There's so much hype about going out and doing something crazy and fun when it's truly no different than any other night of the year. The good news is that a friend called yesterday and made a last-minute plan to come to town, so I am excited! I haven't seen her since May and we always have a grand ol' time together!

I exercised yesterday and today. Yesterday I did the elliptical at work and today I did a combintion of the treadmill and the gangster elliptical we have at the fitness center. I'm satisfied with my dedication, especially after all of the holiday laziness. I'm hoping to make it three straight days tomorrow! No excuses because I'm working from home tomorrow, but we get off at 3:00 p.m. anyway for the holidays.

I haven't had much of an appetite the last few days. Maybe I ate myself out of commission over the holidays or something. I haven't really gotten hungry and haven't enjoyed eating as much as usual. I had Chili's for lunch yesterday and Mexican today and didn't finish the meals I typically wolf down. Odd!

I did my vest for about an hour and a half yesterday. That's one of my biggest resolutions for 2010, although I haven't started writing them down yet. I plan to, though, because I definitely believe in the power of writing things down and holding myself accountable.

Today I am just rambling like I'm an expert on random topics, when in all actuality I just feel like being on a pedestal for no reason. Perhaps I'll stop and go to sleep instead. Sounds like a compromise!

Girls just wanna have fun

Too funny. Right as I started writing this, I saw my first commercial for Vampire Diaries. It looks...interesting. Boy, there is a lot of trash on TV. Maybe it's a good thing that I never got around to fulfilling my New Year's resolution of watching more TV. Maybe in 2010. Gosh, saying 2010 is weird.

I think I'm meeting my sister and her friend at Taco Mac momentarily. I love Taco Mac so much that it's ridiculous. Looking at the menu is so exciting there because almost everything looks good. I have no idea what I'm in the mood for, but I'm sure it will be easy to make up my mind when I get there.

Well, I spoke at the CF Foundation event last night and it seemed to go pretty well. It was the corporate recruitment kick-off event for the 2010 (weird!) CF walk. It was a cocktail party and was hosted at this absolutely ridiculous country club, where the houses started at $800K. That is absolutely absurd. The clubhouse was sooooo gigantic and extravagant. Anyway, I think my speech went well. I pretty much winged it, but it's not hard to wing talking about personal experience. Especially after the fool I made of myself on Tuesday...nothing would top that.

I got this Ben and Jerry's ice cream a while ago and finished it this afternoon. It was incredible. It was Coffee Heath Bar Crunch or something fabulous like that. It was magical! I'm usually a sherbet/sorbet girl, but this hit the spot.

There's a lot of talk about Halloween lately. I am anti-holidays for the most part. The hype drives me crazy, especially for Halloween. There's so much pressure to come up with a good costume and, frankly, I don't even care. Then, if you don't dress up, people think you think you're too cool to dress up. So, it's basically a lose-lose. I guess Halloween is in a week; I don't have a plan yet, so maybe I won't even have to deal with the costume-figuring-out-escapade this year.

Oh man, I just saw a commercial for Sour Patch Kids. I love me some SP children.

Anyway, time to head up to the Mac.