And yes, the title really is from that Britney song back in the day. Only this time it means that my days have descended into eating the many awful but delicious baked goods and chocolates that have accumulated in our apartment instead of keeping up the exercise and eating regime I wanted to. Also, not writing down what I ate every day didn't keep me accountable and getting caught up in a bunch of random extra-curriculars didn't help either. Now that things have died down a bit, hopefully exercising and eating will get back on track and a couple pounds will drop off before the school year (and college!) end forever...especially, you know, the ones that creeped back this past week and a half. The real trick will now be to figure out how to stay on track in spite of distractions and stress, because that's going to happen at least once a month from here on out.
Current goals (tracked on mapmyrun.com):
100 miles from March 14 to April 14: currently at 15/100.
This Saturday I'm running/walking the half marathon, which brings me to about 28.2 miles. If I run about 4 miles a day the rest of the time, that comes out to 92.2 miles total (64+28.2)...only 8.8 miles short of the goal. We could still make the 100!
10 lbs lost by April 26: currently at 0/10.
Originally it was 10 lbs lost by April 14, but 10 lbs in 2.5 weeks is silly because it will probably all just come back immediately. I had actually lost a couple over Spring Break, but the past 2 weeks have not been good to me. 5 lbs by my birthday would be nice though, or maybe even 5 lbs by formal (April 11). My weight is reaching a very unhealthy level, and thanks to gaining tons of self esteem in Nicaragua - no joke! - my main motivation to lose weight is for health reasons, not aesthetic ones.
New goal:
Pray and reflect for at least 20 minutes every day
Had lunch with Paola today, which was fun, thought-provoking, inspiring and humbling. As Celine said at WW today, "don't you just wanna sit next to her so you can soak up her awesomeness?" Or something to that effect. Friends like her make me strive to be a better person, and it always floors me whenever she says that I make her happy or am beautiful because to me she's already so...well...awesome. And it's mind boggling to know that God loves us all the same anyway. Today she told me, "It's great that you're honest about how much you've sinned and the mistakes you've made, but you have to realize that Jesus would have loved you just the same whether you were perfect or sinned a lot more." UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
Random note: my deepest, most heartfelt cries to Jesus are now in Spanish. Does that say something? Father Tim used to pray in Portuguese and didn't know what he was saying...hehe...
Exercise: none, went running on Monday though with Brittany
Food: english muffin + peanut butter, Doc Cheys, freshens fro yo, half a banana-nut muffin (small, from the apt), spinach salad+chicken, 1 curry chicken breast and 1/4 rice, some homemade fried rice, 1 tagalong, and chocolate here and there. Waaaaaaay too much junk food. Too much. Ugh.
Confession: if another overweight friend of mine loses a significant amount of weight before I do I will actually cry.
On a happier note, I'm back to the old procrastination ways just in time for the big research papers and assignments. For some reason this makes me happy. I like doing school work under pressure; it's how I've operated since 10th grade!
And finally: GOT A DOOLEY'S WEEK SHIRT! YAY!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Spring Break MoCo Style
So the 9.5 hour car ride became a 12 hour adventure due to an accident on 85N, but the company was good and our road trip music was excellent so the trip was actually much more enjoyable than it could have been otherwise. With all said and done, Matt and I got home around midnight on Friday night.
Break has been pretty tranquilo/chill right now, and I've been having a lot of fun spending time doing "home-y" things, like hanging out in Bethesda, Rio, and the ROC. Also going outlet shopping in Potomac Mills, which is really in VA, but still a home-y activity nonetheless. More importantly, it's been wonderful seeing certain people again, especially my family and the bestests.
Today, for instance, I spent most of the day with Nick running errands in Rockville and at Montgomery Mall (and running! woo!). Then this evening, I went with Stephen to a pub in Bethesda for trivia night with his brother, brother's girlfriend, and their friends. Random fun coincidence: one of the friends is Nicaraguan and is from the Altamira area! Que casualidad :-) Anyway, I love spending time with Steve and his family because it always reminds me that when all is said and done, MoCo is where I want to be. Atlanta has been fun, Nicaragua will be the adventure of a lifetime, but I want to grow old in Montgomery County.
I know it's not perfect and it won't be easy affording the cost of living. I might not even live here initially when I first start a family and we get on our feet. Buuuut, with a lot of hard work and a boost from the Big Man Upstairs, I hope to be sending my kids to school at RM or one of the Ws and meeting Jess, Stephen, and Morgan (who knows where Lori will be) for coffee at least once a week. Jess and Mo will probably be on competing schools' PTSA Boards. Stephen will probably be heading a Boy Scout troupe. I'll probably be a career mom like my own and complacently do the random parent things you have to do but never really get involved in drama. Yea, that would be wonderful. I'm kind of getting choked up just picturing the situation. God, I love home so much...but I know that Nicaragua is still the best thing for me right now. Marrying a Nicaraguan could severely narrow the chances of having this MoCo fantasy come true, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it...I mean heck, one of the women at trivia today was from Altamira!
Food for today: ugh, bad. but delicious, and of course all of it was eaten because I was with friends. This is still a weakness I need to work on.
Exercise: 2.8 miles outside today with Nick. Not fantastic, but it's something.
That's all for tonight.
Break has been pretty tranquilo/chill right now, and I've been having a lot of fun spending time doing "home-y" things, like hanging out in Bethesda, Rio, and the ROC. Also going outlet shopping in Potomac Mills, which is really in VA, but still a home-y activity nonetheless. More importantly, it's been wonderful seeing certain people again, especially my family and the bestests.
Today, for instance, I spent most of the day with Nick running errands in Rockville and at Montgomery Mall (and running! woo!). Then this evening, I went with Stephen to a pub in Bethesda for trivia night with his brother, brother's girlfriend, and their friends. Random fun coincidence: one of the friends is Nicaraguan and is from the Altamira area! Que casualidad :-) Anyway, I love spending time with Steve and his family because it always reminds me that when all is said and done, MoCo is where I want to be. Atlanta has been fun, Nicaragua will be the adventure of a lifetime, but I want to grow old in Montgomery County.
I know it's not perfect and it won't be easy affording the cost of living. I might not even live here initially when I first start a family and we get on our feet. Buuuut, with a lot of hard work and a boost from the Big Man Upstairs, I hope to be sending my kids to school at RM or one of the Ws and meeting Jess, Stephen, and Morgan (who knows where Lori will be) for coffee at least once a week. Jess and Mo will probably be on competing schools' PTSA Boards. Stephen will probably be heading a Boy Scout troupe. I'll probably be a career mom like my own and complacently do the random parent things you have to do but never really get involved in drama. Yea, that would be wonderful. I'm kind of getting choked up just picturing the situation. God, I love home so much...but I know that Nicaragua is still the best thing for me right now. Marrying a Nicaraguan could severely narrow the chances of having this MoCo fantasy come true, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it...I mean heck, one of the women at trivia today was from Altamira!
Food for today: ugh, bad. but delicious, and of course all of it was eaten because I was with friends. This is still a weakness I need to work on.
Exercise: 2.8 miles outside today with Nick. Not fantastic, but it's something.
That's all for tonight.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Spring Break, T-8 hours
Today was fun and event-filled, which made up for the fact that I broke my eating healthy streak and didn't get to exercise. Everyone was out and about today because the weather was gorgeous...it's days like today that make me love Emory and almost wish that I weren't graduating. After classes and an interesting lecture at the CDC, I spent about an hour hanging out on the quad with various people and happily passing time doing nothing. If Nicaragua plans hadn't materialized, I would have been very tempted to stay here another year, find a job or internship within Emory, and take classes by the credit hour just for fun, just so I didn't have to leave. But lucky for me I guess that I'm ready to leave this limbo-paradise and do what's really calling me.
On that note, today I went to a lecture in the CDC presented by Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, the President of the Public Health Foundation of India. He's a well-connected and highly-acclaimed Public Health figure, and it was almost overwhelming being the CDC and in the presence of such important people. I started thinking to myself, "Wow, I never would have thought that I would be sitting here 5 years ago..." and then realized, "Wow, I didn't even know what Global Health was five years ago..." It was an energizing and inspirational experience, and I hope that one day I'll be back at the CDC but as an MPH, PhD or visiting Fellow.
As I mentioned, today was kind of a disaster health-wise beyond me walking back to the quad from the CDC, but it's okay because we went to the Brick Store for dinner and Cafe Intermezzo for late night dessert and drinks. Yea....I'm going to miss Atlanta's restaurant scene, especially in comparison with what I know Managua has to offer. You win some you lose some, I guess.
Okay, off to finish packing and writing my Spanish composition. Home in less than 20 hours!
On that note, today I went to a lecture in the CDC presented by Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, the President of the Public Health Foundation of India. He's a well-connected and highly-acclaimed Public Health figure, and it was almost overwhelming being the CDC and in the presence of such important people. I started thinking to myself, "Wow, I never would have thought that I would be sitting here 5 years ago..." and then realized, "Wow, I didn't even know what Global Health was five years ago..." It was an energizing and inspirational experience, and I hope that one day I'll be back at the CDC but as an MPH, PhD or visiting Fellow.
As I mentioned, today was kind of a disaster health-wise beyond me walking back to the quad from the CDC, but it's okay because we went to the Brick Store for dinner and Cafe Intermezzo for late night dessert and drinks. Yea....I'm going to miss Atlanta's restaurant scene, especially in comparison with what I know Managua has to offer. You win some you lose some, I guess.
Okay, off to finish packing and writing my Spanish composition. Home in less than 20 hours!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Un Dia Tranquilo
Today was a wonderful, lazy day. I woke up late, made a delicious brunch, got some errands done, exercised, saw Jean, made a delicious dinner, then went to volunteer. I'm dead tired though, probably a combination of working out + volunteering with toddlers. But errands were fun today, because I bought all my graduation regalia and claimed my "You know you're desperate when getting lucky means finding a good parking space" mug from the Miracle Marathon silent auction. Volunteering was also a lot of fun because we really made headway with the kids and they were soooo well-behaved today.
Working out was productive: I managed to knock out 4 miles on the treadmill and do some quad strengthening on the Arctrainer. Overall, according to the machines at least, I burned about 630 calories. Only downside is that I desperately need new sneakers because these ones are giving me blisters. My meals ended up pretty decent, too:
Brunch: spinach salad; 2 egg omelette with tomato, green pepper, onion and spinach (200); kielbasa (300); 2 pieces of baguette (100); passion iced tea made by the roomie = 600-700
Dinner: one chicken wing basted with olive oil and lemon pepper (290); about 1 cup rice (245 cals); oriental seasoned vegetables (45) = 580
Snacks: carrots and lite ranch; grapes; small bagel w/ PB and lite cream cheese = 300ish
Total: about 1580! Doing better, which is always good. What's going to suck is going home, but it just means I need to use our treadmill downstairs more.
The one thing that's been on my mind, especially after talking to Ryan last night, is la Maximo (term used to refer to our friends in Nica as well as the colonia itself). I think I'm finally coming out of my stupor over the whole experience and am realizing that no, Maximo is not the end all be all of Nicaragua. I also realized how much I hated the gossip, because you get sucked into it so easily and you love to join in but it ultimately just causes trouble - which, of course, is what it does everywhere. But still...whether it be that it was more noticeable in an unfamiliar environment, or people are less subtle about it there, or what have you, but it seemed particularly poisonous and alluring in Maximo. In fact, if you have some free time go read Life is Hard by Roger Lancaster, because the entire book is written about Maximo (under a pseudonym) and he dedicates at least one chapter to gossip. In the end this realization is encouraging, because now I know for sure that I'm going back for Nicaragua, not for Maximo.
"Si la patria es pequeña, uno grande la sueña." - Ruben Dario
Lots of other stuff bouncing around in my mind, but I'm officially beat. Buenas noches.
Working out was productive: I managed to knock out 4 miles on the treadmill and do some quad strengthening on the Arctrainer. Overall, according to the machines at least, I burned about 630 calories. Only downside is that I desperately need new sneakers because these ones are giving me blisters. My meals ended up pretty decent, too:
Brunch: spinach salad; 2 egg omelette with tomato, green pepper, onion and spinach (200); kielbasa (300); 2 pieces of baguette (100); passion iced tea made by the roomie = 600-700
Dinner: one chicken wing basted with olive oil and lemon pepper (290); about 1 cup rice (245 cals); oriental seasoned vegetables (45) = 580
Snacks: carrots and lite ranch; grapes; small bagel w/ PB and lite cream cheese = 300ish
Total: about 1580! Doing better, which is always good. What's going to suck is going home, but it just means I need to use our treadmill downstairs more.
The one thing that's been on my mind, especially after talking to Ryan last night, is la Maximo (term used to refer to our friends in Nica as well as the colonia itself). I think I'm finally coming out of my stupor over the whole experience and am realizing that no, Maximo is not the end all be all of Nicaragua. I also realized how much I hated the gossip, because you get sucked into it so easily and you love to join in but it ultimately just causes trouble - which, of course, is what it does everywhere. But still...whether it be that it was more noticeable in an unfamiliar environment, or people are less subtle about it there, or what have you, but it seemed particularly poisonous and alluring in Maximo. In fact, if you have some free time go read Life is Hard by Roger Lancaster, because the entire book is written about Maximo (under a pseudonym) and he dedicates at least one chapter to gossip. In the end this realization is encouraging, because now I know for sure that I'm going back for Nicaragua, not for Maximo.
"Si la patria es pequeña, uno grande la sueña." - Ruben Dario
Lots of other stuff bouncing around in my mind, but I'm officially beat. Buenas noches.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Beginning
Back in high school and the beginning of college, I had one of those angsty, drama-filled online journals. I deleted it because it was an unhealthy way to vent my emotions and since then have matured leaps and bounds spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. Now that college is coming to an end - and quite a bit earlier than I originally anticipated - I figured why not start up a new blog again at this rather important juncture in my life. Facebook stalking Jeannie might have also played a part in inspiring this blog, but sshhh. Anyway, big things to think about right now:
With every day that passes I'm more and more sure that Global Health is exactly what I want to do with my life. I'm still not sure in what capacity I'll ultimately be dealing with the issue - it's either MPH, MBA or PhD - but it almost doesn't matter to me as long as I'm working in development. It's challenging, it's discouraging, it's dirty and it's probably not going to be eliminated within my lifetime, but there's something indescribable pulling me towards this cause. I love being a young idealist.
I've decided to also keep track of my food and exercise regime on here to be somewhat accountable for what I'm doing and to see where my weaknesses are. You can pretty much ignore these parts of the entry if you'd like.
Until next time.
- Graduating college! In 2 months and 1 week there will be a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies in my possession.
- Living in Nicaragua! I'll be working with Manna Project International and immersing myself in several of their awesome initiatives being carried out in three main locations in or right around Managua. Stay tuned for either a separate travel blog or this one morphing into a Manna propaganda machine.
- Getting back in shape! Really it's a premeditated measure because I'll get fat and lazy back in Nica (although I'll have a wicked tan 24/7)
- Getting back into spiritual shape! More prayer time is needed with the Big Man upstairs.
With every day that passes I'm more and more sure that Global Health is exactly what I want to do with my life. I'm still not sure in what capacity I'll ultimately be dealing with the issue - it's either MPH, MBA or PhD - but it almost doesn't matter to me as long as I'm working in development. It's challenging, it's discouraging, it's dirty and it's probably not going to be eliminated within my lifetime, but there's something indescribable pulling me towards this cause. I love being a young idealist.
I've decided to also keep track of my food and exercise regime on here to be somewhat accountable for what I'm doing and to see where my weaknesses are. You can pretty much ignore these parts of the entry if you'd like.
- Food: 2 mini-bagels w/ lite cream cheese and strawberry jam (abt 340 total); 1 OJ and pack of pretzels (abt 440 total); 1 chicken leg, spinach salad, 2 small slices baguette (abt 300 total); 1 tall iced caramel latte (abt 220 calories); 1 4-piece chicken fingers w/ fries and honey mustard (abt 700 calories) = abt 2000 calories <== 500 calories off target. Home-cooked meals FTW!
- Exercise: none! uuugh. Was busy from 10 am until 10 pm tonight. Will make it up tomorrow.
Until next time.
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