The Lost Girl

So happy today. Since my freshman year here, we have done a Secret Santa gift exchange between our closest friends. It started out as just us freshmen Volleyball players; there were eight of us then. None of us play anymore, and over the years, we’ve added about six or seven more people into the mix—my housemates included. We draw names out of a hat and exchange presents before everyone goes home for the break.

I drew one of my housemates—Chuy. She’s impossible to shop for. A little midget who eats microwave meals every day and has entirely different tastes and style than the rest of my housemates. What I got for her is unexciting, really. The rest of my housemates all happened to land on each other. Kristin drew Julie who drew Kelly who drew me, and I of course drew Chuy. I told Kelly that I was probably just going to get my Secret Santa a bottle of wine and a set of nice wine glasses. I said that I doubted if anyone else wanted something like that the way I did and she said probably not.

So we exchanged gifts today, and I didn’t know that Kelly had been my Secret Santa all along. When she handed her present to me it was a beautiful set of red wine glasses with my initials engraved on the side of each one in perfect script lettering. It was such an awesome present, I almost cried. And everyone’s faces were so lit up with how happy the presents they had given were making everyone else and it was warm and fuzzy and everything good about the holiday season.

I’m just beyond blessed to have good people in my life. I worry that it will be harder to find people like this when I move into the city upon graduation, and I can’t imagine not having these girls around all the time. Allison too. But she and I are going to live happily ever after together, so that’s a different story.

What I’m trying to squeeze out is this: Happy Holidays, Y’all! I will probably say it a thousand more times in the next few weeks because I love the holidays so much, but I hope it doesn’t wear out on ya.

targs:

Here’s how my dad recently explained life to me: Life is a long hallway of doors. Once you go through one you can’t go back, it closes behind you. And each door you go through leads you to another hallway of doors. You just have to make a choice, let the door close no matter the outcome, and pick your next door.

My weight lost during week one of the 330 East Morton Street Biggest Loser Challenge was 7 pounds! To be honest, it wasn’t all that rough either. I haven’t missed a day at the gym yet, and I’m sure it will be harder to keep up that record once I get home. The toughest part will be not seeing as much immediate progress from the rest of the weeks here on out. I know that the first pounds you lose are usually the easiest, so I have to stay motivated in spite of the slower rate of change I’ll be seeing as I move forward.

The plan for week two is to increase my cardio from 45 minutes a day to 50 minutes, with two days of the week devoted to sprint and interval work (gotta keep your body guessing). I will continue with my low-weight/high-repetitions for arms and legs, and will work alternating ab sequences every day. Yay! As far as the nutrition plan goes, I’ve been focusing on maximizing proteins and minimizing carbs, and I’ll continue to do that. Depending on the progress that this week holds, I may make more changes in the weeks to come.

Wish me luck for week two!

Okay, so my first official weigh-in will be tomorrow. I have been eating like a champ all week, severely limiting my carbs (Atkin’s style: no bread, no milk, no fruit, 20g allowance per day), and I have been to the gym every single day this week including today. I am without a doubt very proud of myself for the restraint that I’ve shown in the face of Christmas cookies and lots of wine and spiked cider. I did a mid-week weigh-in just to see how I was doing, and I will go ahead and say that the number of pounds lost that I report tomorrow night may surprise you.

What’s more important than my findings at weigh-in tomorrow is how awesome I’m feeling. They say it takes 21 consecutive days to form a habit, so I need to focus on continuing my hard work at the gym and when I go running in spite of the intense studying I have to be doing. The twist to this competition is that it will continue when we are all home for Winter Break, and we all know I’m a sucker for Shiner Bock and Chuy’s Tex Mex. I’m in it for the win though, so don’t expect me to be backing down.

We shall wait and see what tomorrow brings!

gotwisdom:

IN FACT, MOST OF YOU READING THIS ARE MISTAKES.

Unfollowing. Why do I bother following mean people in the first place? I should have seen this coming.

I think I met one of my new best friends tonight. Allison saw him in one of our classes last year, thought he was incredibly hot, and he was. My housemate, Julie, is good friends with him through the internship she held this summer, and brought him out with us tonight. He’s gay. And perfect. And I adore him.

You know what I love most about gay men? They never hesitate to tell you when they think you’re pretty. There’s no pressure behind it, so they just say what they want to women. And tonight, Eric told me dozens of times that he thought I was beautiful. You know how good that makes me feel? Who cares if he’s gay? He can still tell when a pretty girl walks into a room, just like I can. Self-esteem got a pump up tonight. Love my new friend.