Surviving NJ

We’re about to be buried under another foot of snow – yet again. Oh joy! Anyway, we did our classic go out to dinner and hit the store like most of those around us. First off – we needed to go out since we knew we’d be in the house for the next day or two…hence dinner out.

It was at the grocery store that I saw the reality. While people grab bread off the shelves – it was all about the snacks. People don’t want to be trapped indoors without their sweet or savory snacks. It wasn’t chicken and vegetables that people were stocking up on, but chips and cookies.

You could hear crickets in the produce aisle, but it was a battle to make it down the soda and pretzel lane.

Let’s be honest – who wants to be stuck without their favorites….why is it our minds go right to snacks when we know snow is coming? Think about it…when the weather calls for bright and sunny skies, 70 degrees- we aren’t rushing to the store for goodies – we’re itching to be outside – but tell someone there may be a few inches of snow and we’ll face crazy crowds to get those cookies we don’t want to be stuck without.

Don’t worry about me, I have plenty of Diet Coke – life is good for myself and anyone stuck around me!

There- I said it….somebody had to! Okay, maybe evil is the wrong word, but dear goodness – does it make an impact on my body.

I’m very careful with what I eat and put into my body these days. I have to be. I’ve been on a pretty strict program – both with food and on a training schedule for running. The thing is – when I started to do some bigger runs 8 miles, 10 miles – I got hungrier!

I added in some extra calories (okay), and last night had some white bread (not okay). Generally, when it comes to bread I go with multi-grain – I have a nice loaf of 12 grain, multi-grain waiting on me. Sadly, my brain went – ooh, there’s a fresh kaiser roll on the counter and maybe I’ll have that…..

Yeah, it was good. It tasted great….this morning my face is all puffy, I could barely drag myself out of bed – and once again (it’s not the first time it’s happened) I remind myself white bread is evil to my body. Why don’t I learn these lessons? Why do I always go back to the doughey lure of goodness?

One day I shall learn my lesson. Last night wasn’t it. My face looks like a marshmallow this morning – all puffed up…and I’m so tired…as someone who has to watch certain starchy carbs and stuff – you’d think I’d have this automatic message in my head that says, “Warning, this will make you feel like crap”…All right, fine – I do. I just chose to ignore it. Bad choice!

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

I recently got a Kindle, which I’ll review at another point, but was trying to decide what I wanted my first book to read on it would be. I had a list of books I’ve been wanting to read, and a few on a “look into” list…meaning, I’d heard about it, but wanted to check out reviews on Amazon first.

One of those books by AJ Jacobs was “The Year of Living Biblically”.

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

The thing is, I wasn’t sure if I’d want to read the entire book if I didn’t care for his writing style. The Guinea Pig Diaries would allow me to get a taste of his writing in smaller pieces. This way there were multiple experiments, and if I lost interest in a story, I could skip ahead.

Let me say, I am SO glad I gave it a chance. After enjoying the book immensely, I can say that I’ll now happily go back and read both “….Biblically”….along with another called The Know-It-All.

In The Guinea Pig Diaries, AJ Jacobs does things like outsourcing his life – including arguing with his wife, posing as a nude model, along with other experiments such as doing everything his wife says, and filling in for his nanny on the “online” world of dating and handling the “details”.

AJ Jacobs has a comfortable, conversational tone in his writing, making light of his situations – as well as describing them in a manner that leaves you laughing out loud. This was a fun and quick read, and one that introduced me to a new author I wasn’t familiar with. He has previously written for Entertainment Weekly, and I believe currently writes for Esquire.

If you’re looking for a light read – this is nice in small bites, and was a nice first read on my new Kindle Reader

*links lead to Amazon

I’m down 34 pounds at this point, and am on course to keep going. I’ve really been surprised at how well I’ve been doing when it comes to following my plan. I’m satisfied with my choices in food, as well as being able to make it work around my lifestyle.

As for exercise, I’m still running. I put in a 4 mile run last night, and have a 7 miler tomorrow. That’s a long run – but if I’m going to keep going, I need to push myself like this. I’ve signed up for multiple 1/2 marathons at this point, and am looking at training for a full marathon come January.

Endurance running is an interesting thing — and I’m finding a big part of it is a mental game you play with yourself. You feel like you’ve done enough, but you need to keep going. I’m happy I’m still pushing, because by now I’ve usually quit the process.

It’s nice to say I’m proud of myself, and I can honestly say that I am proud of the time and effort I’m putting in this process. It’s a nice feeling.

Cast Member Confidential: A Disneyfied Memoir

Have you heard about the latest Disney “tell all” type of memoir, “Cast Member Confidential”? If you were interested in it, I picked it up this week. I was torn on reading it or not. Don’t get me wrong, I like behind-the-scenes stories, but we’re talking a place that is the all time master of illusion and happy places. I love Disney – and I guess from my last post – you get that. The thing is, digging into this book, I wondered if it would tarnish the place in my eyes.

Does it? Nah – To me it reads like half fiction, half truth – and sounds like a lot of places that have young people working there. While every place runs like a well oiled machine during the day, the employees end up partying together at night to blow off steam. On the other hand, some of the stories are tossed in for “shock value” – and while you’d be all – OH MY GOSH, NOT MY DISNEY – honestly, I take it with a grain of salt.

It’s written as a memoir, but reads more like a story. How much you choose to believe is up to you. Remember when James Frey and his “Million Little Pieces” was all about “HIS TRUTH” – then it came out parts were exaggerated (well duh, just think of the root canal scene alone) – anyway, that’s how this reads to me.

Everything is heightened – everything feels TOO over the top.

Lastly, when I went to read reviews – there were 5 perfect 5 star ratings. Not one other type of rating. Mmmhmmm, sure…I’d wait a little longer if you want to read this, and wait for the REAL reviews to roll in. Then you’ll get a more biased opinion. What do I think? What would I give it?

I’d give it about 3.5 stars. It’s an easy read, it’s got some behind the scenes stuff, but mostly it’s all about how much of the Disney employment population is gay and has wild, massive parties on a regular basis…ummm, who cares? It’s like this is some massive reveal – oh my gosh – look at his *****, oh my gosh – the party – there were people who didn’t care if they were coupled up with men or women, drugs all over, sex all over, and party, party, things. There’s a level of how in or out you are, based on the character or your roll as a Cast Member…

I still give it a solid 3.5 stars, because it’s a quick read that keeps your attention. He can write – and can tell a story, and there are enough small details to hold your interest. It’s not the tell-all you might have been hoping for – but it’s interesting. I’d suggest this one for the over 18 crowd though. This isn’t the book I’d pick out for your daughter who LOVES Disney. Cursing, nudity, sex, drugs involved…

*link leads to Amazon

I’ve been booking our vacations and travel this week. I’m excited to start the process, because we’ve had it planned out for a bit. I finally got to dig in and pull all the details together. I have a couple of runs this year down in Florida, so I’m excited to combine a couple of 1/2 marathons with extended trips to Disney.

The other thing I’ll be doing this year is — are you sitting down for this? I’m taking my son and his friend to Florida for about 10 days. Am I crazy? I may well be….but eh, I’m willing to give it a try. We just booked this fab house, and pulled the details of our transportation together.

I love when this time of year comes around. I put all the pieces together in my head – and iron out lots of details, since I’m a total planner on these things, so when I’m given the “go ahead”, I’m always thrilled, but also relieved to get everything in place.

One of the things that’s different about most the trips I’ve done – say, down the shore – versus Disney – is the planning involved.

I’ve rented Jersey Shore Homes before through a local realtor. You pick a place and you’re done. With Disney – it doesn’t work like that. Not only do you have to book your accommodations, but now you’ve got travel and other things to deal with. Want to eat at a sit down restaurant at the park? You’d better make reservations WAY ahead of time if you want to get in! It’s an entirely different system and world. At LBI, you show up at the restaurant you want and you eat. In Disney – you make reservations 3+ months in advance, sometimes more to hot spots, or they won’t even let you wait to be seated at times. They pack on a schedule to capacity, and there are no walk-ups for many places! There is PLANNING involved. I love it though – I love doing the details, so it feeds a need I have.

Merry Christmas! I hope you get the opportunity to share time with family or loved ones, and that your day is full of great memories and joy and laughter.

We do it to ourselves you know…build up or shoot down our confidence levels…it’s all some twisted game our brain plays with us. We can have one tiny glance in a mirror or a comment we hear take us down a notch or two….and yet build ourselves up if we like how we’re feeling at the moment.

Let’s look at some rational here, and why I consider the mind as a weapon…one that is used against you.

- ever had a fat day? yeah…feeling icky, bloated, funky — but in reality, you weigh exactly the same as you did the day before. MIND GAMES we play with ourselves.

- ever love your outfit, get ready to go out, feeling all happy, then catch an odd angle in a window or mirror – and suddenly feel deflated? MIND GAMES we play with ourselves

- ever feeling lifted because someone says something complimentary to us? Almost like that reality didn’t exist until we heard it from another? MIND GAMES we play with ourselves

- ever feeling pumped up until someone said something less than flattering — there go the winds out of your sails… defeated. MIND GAMES we play with ourselves.

We are what we THINK we are.

This Jersey girl is proud to say I’ve now lost 23 pounds. I noticed something yesterday that felt like a small victory. I have a running skirt I bought a few weeks ago (online) and it didn’t quite fit yet. I knew I was going to be right on the border, but knew I’d want the skirt when I could lose more weight. I got a great deal on it, so I grabbed it a few weeks before I’d fit in it…

As of last night, I fit in it! I’m not saying I look great, but it fit! WOOHOO…that felt like such an achievement. When I first got it 3 weeks ago, I wanted to see how far I had to go. I honestly thought it would take much longer, but apparently not. It slid right up over my hips, and was awesome.

A running skirt is a skirt over compression shorts, so you don’t see any ride-ups. They were recommended to me, so I thought I’d give them a try. I also have two from C9 at Target, but each is cut a little differently. One from C9 I love, the other – not so much. This RunningSkirt.com skirt is awesome though, and there’s much less ride up of the shorts between your thighs. I think this will end up being my brand of choice.

As I’m continuing my weight journey, I can’t buy too many, because my size will hopefully continue to change. I think I can wear this one for a good 20 pounds though…so maybe a few weeks before my first 1/2 marathon I’ll treat myself to a new size (hoping I keep losing here, obviously!) and a new color!

Here I am in all my glory. While I’m smiling- and yes I had a good time, notice that I’m wearing a jacket. BOOOO! It was mid 60’s that day, and not my ideal mid 70’s, though we did get a few of those days in there too!

Honestly, it was fabulous. A sinus infection slowed me down, but couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. A crappy day in Disney is still better than a great day in NJ!

We kept a low profile, and kept it at a relaxed pace. We also added some mid day breaks in on the days we didn’t sleep in half the day! Hey, I needed extra rest since my head was clogged.

We did our favorites, and saw some cool stuff as usual, but I think my favorite was Cinderella’s castle lit up in lights. It was fabulous…the purple/blue and white lights against the dark night just was illuminating….and just well, gorgeous. I was like a little girl smiling when I saw it…Not sure how I haven’t seen it like that before. We must have done Magic Kingdom during the daylight hours in the past at this time of year, because this was the first time in 4 years I’ve seen the castle this way…

I did try to snap a pic on my cell phone, but I haven’t checked to see if it’s clear or blurry uploaded yet. I’ll hope to get to that later in the week.

The best news for me was coming home at the same weight I started at. In the process I gained some muscle, lost some fat and my BMI is down, even though the scale looks the same. Have faith that your body is doing what it needs to do if you work at it. Just happy it went well on that front…

Great trip, and can’t wait to go back again!