A Photo Worthy Update

So one of my resolutions this year was to do something photo-worthy every month. So far, this year has been of to a good start, so I thought I would do a little update! With a few photos of course.

This year I went snowboarding for the first time ever! Actually, first time I did a winter sport ever. My friends and I had purchsed a group-on to Mount Sunapee. For $40 we got all day lift tickets, rentals and a 2hr lesson. None of us had ever snowboarded before, so we decided to go with that. Our instructor was an adorable youte who was super nice and helpful, and thank goodness! That is some tough stuff. We started at the base of the bunny hill, learning simple things like strapping in, how to stand and how to awkwardly hop of the hill (which we were all pretty kickass at). Then we moved up to the base of the magic carpet and started to learn how to do some turns. I was doing fine when we just had to do one way at a time. But then.... then we moved onto the full height of the bunny hill and tried linking turns together. Well, I can go heel in, but digging in my toes has turned out to be nearly impossible. So I can really only go in one direction. After years of squatting and drilling it into my body to put the pressure on my heels, it's just so unnatural to move to your balls at all. Not sure I'm ever going to get the hang of it.

 Snow Bunnies!

That didn't stop me from attempting a trail though! My friends were much smarter and stayed on the hill, getting more comfortable with things. Meanwhile, I decided to plummet, bump and crash my way down in an "appalling" fashion :) Thank goodness I got a helmet!  It was quite intense and I was so sore the next day, but I was glad I did it. Next time I'm definitely going to try to slow down more (I seemed to have amnesia about that concept) and get better at my turns before I get on a run.  It was an awesome day and I was so glad to have gone with such awesome friends!

My next amazing event, that was sooooo photo-worthy I made it online, involved public nudity! But that's going to get it's own post :) So I've had a good January. February is going to be the Passion Plunge with BSOS, where we will run into the ocean in the middle of winter to raise money for the Special Olympics. I'm also supposed to be using another group-in with my Daddy to learn how to and fly and helicopter with East Coast Aero. In April, you all probably know that (assuming I raise the $$$) I will be jumping out of a plane for Operation Freefall! And my friends and I just registered again for this years Warrior Dash. You can read about our adventures last year on my friend's blog!

That just leaves something for March, which is my bday month. Sounds like a good excuse for an adventure to me! Ideas anyone?

Flash what?

One of the more exciting things that I've done this year has been getting involved with a local flashmob group, The Societies of Spontaneity. "How?" you might be asking. Well, in my attempt to make new friends (aka meet a man) in Boston, I joined a meetup group called NerdFun. It was through them that I found a link to some even held by this BostonSOS. I went to the website and I was instantly in love. A whole group of people that like to do silly, random things just for fun? No shame whatsoever? It was my calling.

My first event was based on The Ministry of Silly Walks I met up with NerdFun and then we proceeded to meet up with BSOS at the Christian Science Center. This was when we were told the official details of our mission - to enter the fancy pants Prudential Shopping Center and walk around in the strangest fashion we could think of. Normal from the waist up, wacko from the waist down. Reactions were classic. I saw people walk into things from staring at us. Others just joined in for the heck of it. Security was FREAKED.  And I was in love.

For our flash mob anniversary, we had a simpler but still awesome mini-event. About 30 of us showed up on a weekday evening to pose as a group of communal cohabitants that were in the search of a new mattress for their love nest. We headed over to Macy's in downtown crossing and the adventure began! People piled up into beds everywhere. How many can we fit? This is too soft. I like this trundle. The buttons on this one hurt. This one is too thick. And so it went. Unfortunately, the mattress selling staff was off for the evening, so we didn't get to harass them too much. But the other staff was definitely getting a kick out of it. And we topped it off with a classy trip to Wendys.

One of my favorite events to date was the MP3Experience2010. In this event, everyone downloads an mp3 track, synchorizes their watches, and at the same time, we all begin listening and following the magical adventure directions given to us! This year, we were on a search for our inner child. Everyone had been asked to wear a red/green/blue/yellow shirt and most of the directions gave different people different assignments at different points. We had dance parties, hugged parts of the park that don't normally get hugged, gave high fives to each other, gave strangers high fives, searched for squirrels, formed a circle around the playground, played tag, walked in slow motion, walked in fast motion and just plain overall had fun. The audio from this track was amazing. And my favorite picture (and blog wallpaper) was snapped by a fellow blogger of me (and the yellows) being the sun!

http://sergioni.com/post/1287029114/hurray-taken-with-instagram-at-mp3-exp

A quickie but goodie was when we invaded the opening of a new dog park in Somerville. But did we bring our dogs? Of course not. We all had those invisible dog leashes, named our new pups and brought them to the park to meet people, run around, poop, eat, use the agility course and make friends. Most people took it really well and were more than happy to talk to me and Copernicus, but a few were a little put off. Just some average, good ol' silliness.

Care of  our wonderful photographer, Chris A.

Finally, there was NoPants2011, but I think I'll have to do a whole blog for that one. Being part of BostonSOS has been AWESOME for me this year.I've always had just silly friends - the kind where everyone thinks your drunk when you're totally sober and just being yourselves. Yeah, that was us. And now I have new amazing friends (not to mention just random people at every event) that love doing just the same kind of thing. Silliness for the sake of silliness. I hope that I'll always be able to remember that life is fun and to live it that way. What a great community. <3

Coming soon!

Cause I'm FREE!!! Freefalling!

You know you love the song. And you know it's appropriate for this entry because....

On April 30, 2011, I will be participating in the nation's boldest, highest-altitude, and most daring effort to put an end to sexual assault. It's called Operation Freefall: The Two-Mile High Stand Against Sexual Assault®.

I will join thousands of people at drop zones across the country who will take to the sky and jump. Our goal: to raise funds to help survivors throughout the healing process and increase awareness about sexual assault.

In order to participate in this event, I need to raise a minimum of $1,000 in funds! I’m hoping that you’ll help support me, the cause, and survivors around the world in this event. I’ve setup a page online where you can donate directly, or you can contact me and I’ll let you know how to donate with a check or cash. My goal is $1,250 - so every bit helps and I thank you so much in advance.

You can read more and donate on my page HERE.

This will be my first time diving and I can't think of a better way to do it or a more worthy cause. If you have any questions about the event or the issue, let me know and we can talk anytime.

Blue Skies!

Bring on the beans....accountability here I come!

This isn't going to be a particularly long post, but after a huge pigout last night on a lot of cheese and multiple lean cuisines (doesn't sound so bad, but really, I was disgustingly overstuffed and still am the morning after), I've decided I need to make some sort of public commitment somewhere to get my ass back in gear. The ickies are slowly creeping back onto me (even though to those that haven't seen me in a while I probably look pretty good), and I'm not a fan. Granted, I'm eating like crap and haven't really been exercising, so it's totally understandable.

So, I guess I'll be trying to create some sort of section dedicated to my diet/exercise. I'll do my best to update daily, or near daily, with basically what I'm eating. Time to hit the rice+beans again and probably ban cheese from my apartment. Avacado = ok, cheese = piggy me.  

For those that don't know, I HATE resolution time of the year at the gym, so I asked for a TRX for Christmas and froze my gym membership for 2 months. Problem is making yourself actually work out at home. Well this week I'm going at it for real damnit! I want to get in 3 TRX workouts a week and 2 "other" (maybe exerciseTV, a DVD, something metabolic, jumping rope - whatever I'm in the mood for). So I'll try to add that into my updates as well.

I guess for anyone that has asked me "What do you do?" or "What do you eat?", this might give you some idea. Mostly, I just want some accountability because this vague accountability to myself is NOT cutting it. 

• I have a wedding in 4 months that I'm in the bridal party for, so I can't really gain weight. 
• I want to stay healthy and happy with myself. 
• I want to use up my stores of food.
• I want to save some money.
• I want to use my CSA.
• I want to cook more.
• I want to try new things.
• I want to put this TRX to use.
• I want to be active and master my body weight.
• I want to be confident and comfortable and happy.
• I want my friggin back back.
• And I need to be killing those pull ups, pushups and pistol squats. Lordy girl!

So yeah, I guess those are some reasons and motivations to keep in mind. Wish me luck!

So it goes....REBECCCCCAAAAAA!!!!

Time for Reading Rainbow Part 2. I know you're super excited to hear my reviews of the next bunch of books I've been reading, aren't ya, aren't ya??? I didn't make it a resolution, but it kinda is part of self-soothing in that it gives me something to do and focus on and stay calm about. And I want to keep it up if possible. So here we go!

Rebecca - Daphne de Maurier: LOVE IT. Love it. Love it.  Did you get that I loved it? Now admittedly, it took me a while to get into this book. The first hundred pages were kinda slow going, but after I hit that critical point, I was sucked in by Maxim (what woman wouldn't be?), Mrs. Danvers, Manderly and the mystery of Rebecca. Such dark romance. You could totally imagine yourself in the protagonist's shoes - wondering, was she more beautiful than me? Do I compare at all? Is he still in love with her? Do they all love her more than me? Will I ever live up to her?  She was utterly relateable. And Maxim, dear Maxim! He was as sexy as a brooding man could be! And the broodier, the sexier. The more secretive, the sexier. The more protective, of course, the sexier! And when you finally found out the truth of Rebecca, you were just so madly in love with him, it overwhelmed you and you had no choice but to fly through the book. As for reading environment, I highly suggest taking this book in a-la-spinster style....aka a nice candle (mine was Victorian Rose - totally fitting) and a good bottle of wine. It just makes the mood! A+ if you couldn't guess! Now I'm just waiting for the library to find me the Hitchcock movie, which I saw oh so many years ago, so I can see the book from another perspective.

Ethan Frome. Welp, I liked it, but I can't say I loved it. I feel like the forward from the copy that I had kinda gave away too much. I know there was a big tragic "smash-up" and that he was in love with his cousin. and that there was a supposed surprise ending. I kept assuming that it was going to something crazier than trying to run away with the cousin and getting in an accident with her from the talk about it, but nope. That's all it was, so it wasn't much of a surprise anymore.I liked the book - I read it in one sitting even - but it was really just a liking, definitely no love. I pitied Ethan, but wasn't overly moved by him. Maybe the book was just too short for me? Maybe he wasn't developed enough before everything started going wrong? Not too sure, but I never felt like I developed a true connection to him. So that being said, I gave it a B+. Solid, but not Amazing.

 Hate to say it, but I think I might like the movie better if I saw it.

Slaugtherhouse Five. Yay, yay! I'm really glad I finally read this. I wasn't positive how I felt about it at first honestly. I wasn't entirely sure if he was supposed to have been going crazy or not, and if it was sci-fi, I didn't think there was enough sci-fi to like it. I did a little sparknotes type reading and after I was sure I was interpreting the themes correctly, I decided that yes! I do really like this - a lot! I didn't really see it as an anti-war book, and I'm not sure that I agree that it was. I mean, I guess it has to be in part just because of the content/context, but I thought that the fate/free-will theme was much more powerful. And this was the theme I related too, at least in this point in my life. Just knowing that to an extent you have to let go. You can't control everything and you should focus on the positive. If I did that, hell yeah it would make a huge impact on my life; if I lived like the Tralfamadorians. Again, I read this book in one night. I wasn't enthralled, but I was captive for sure, trying to figure out what exactly was happening to Billy Pilgrim, where the book was going, what it meant to me and how I felt about it. I think this is one I would appreciate a lot more on second reading, now that I'm more confident in my understanding of it. Because I had trouble at first, I don't think I can fairly give this top ranks, so I'll give you an A, Mr. Vonnegut. I'm excited to read more of your stuff.

How are you not inspired by this?

Resolutions, resolutions...Part 2.

OK, this will probably be another quickie, and unfortunately it will probably be another bloggy one. In my first post about my resolutions, I covered some good basics, but I forgot one and got some good feedback that I wanted to steal. Oh and I have a sub-part that I want to add.  So here it is, Part Deux.

2a. More Cooking for Good Looking! I think that this was probably implied, but in my attempts to do more cooking, I'd like to improve my usage of my CSA/Boston Organics. My first couple rounds didn't go so well. I didn't realize how fast these organic foods can go bad. So I'd like to bring my usage up to about 90% ideally. Better use of my $$$ and better for my body. Yes, even if that just means lots of soup!

6. Stolen from my friend Brad, Do at least one photoworthy thing per month. I was thinking that I wanted to try one new physical/sports thing a month but that's a pretty tough commitment to make. This idea works amazingly! Those events would be totally photoworthy, and I can definitely come up with enough other ones to fill in the other months! For example, this month I'm going skiing for the first time and next month I should be helicopter flying with my Dad and I think in April I will sky dive! All those work perfect!

7. Ok, here comes the bloggy...Stop being "that girl." I don't mean to be. I really really don't! But it's hard to not talk about your mother-friggin ex when he's been shoved into your face again out of nowhere. I've got no feelings for the kid and really just want nothing to do with him, but I can't have that and so he ends up popping out of my mouth way more than I want. Maybe no one notices and it's just something that I hate, but I hate it. Ugh. Blech. Gross. So yeah, I would like to put the kabosh on all utterances of him (after this post I guess, hahaha). Never was worth my time and certainly isn't now.  Unless it's something funny. Then I think I'm allowed :)

Ugh, so no need to advertise!

Alrighty then. I think that hopefully covers it. I've probably spread myself way thin and won't be able to keep on top of all this, but we'll see how it goes. Maybe i'll post myself a list at home so I think about them all. Keep your fingers crossed for me. 2011 started pretty kickass and I want it to keep going that way!