Yesterday was a bit rough, for silly reasons. See, D was getting back from a weekend at home, and I was pretty excited to see him. But then, his plane was leaking engine fluid so they had to switch. Delayed an hour. Then the next plane also had mechanical difficulties, delayed another hour. And so it went until D was delayed four hours in getting home.

And I was distraught. I was just down about missing out on Memorial Day afternoon with him and the gorgeous weather and I didn't want to run errands. But grocery shopping is a huge necessity on BFL so I had no choice. I was on the phone with Lauri and told her I'd decided to wear a shirt to cheer me up.

I picked this one.

In case you can't tell, that heart is sparkly. I wore a sparkly Mickey Mouse shirt to the grocery store. Lauri made endless fun of me, but I assured her I wouldn't see anyone I knew, and I love this shirt because I got it when we went to Disneyland. To be clear, I would never wear this in a real way. (I told Lauri I wouldn't wear it in the real world, and Utah doesn't count.) Usually it's a shirt I wear to bed or when I know I'm not leaving my apartment.

Well, not two minutes after getting to the grocery store what do I hear?
"Joanna!"

That's right, I ran into someone I know. In the shirt. At least the awkward kid guy getting the carts from the parking lot told me it was cute.

- bed
- blanket
- book
- boyfriend
- brownie

Too bad I can only have 3/5 of my list, since boyfriend is in Ohio for the family (love getting his 'miss you' texts) and brownies are NOT on plan for the day.

I'm five days through BFL and there were times that I didn't think I'd make it. Tomorrow is my 'free' day where I don't work out and basically eat whatever I want. So you know...I have plans for tomorrow. And yet I know that I'll probably ditch half of them because my eyes are bigger than my stomach. But that's probably a good thing.

I got an exciting package in the mail...the Eating for Life cookbook! First of all, I love cookbooks. And second of all, I think D will be really happy I ordered it (thank you, $100 Amazon gift card). Because he can only pretend excitement at chicken with rice and a veggie so many times in one week. (Although he did go nuts for lemon pepper chicken with pasta and green beans. Go figure.)

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about not planning my meals for tomorrow, and spending some quality time with myself. Because, kids, life is about to get crazy. In a good way (I hope), but still...this might be my last 'veg out and do nothing but watch chick flicks (just finished The Vow) weekend for a while.

H'ok. So.

(You should imagine me saying that the way the guy at the beginning of this video does.)

Day two of Body for Life is almost over, and it's been great so far. D has struggled with the eating plan, but I have confidence in him doing what he says he'll do.

For me, eating has been good and bad. I've stuck to the plan, but honestly there have been some meals I just haven't enjoyed. Now, that mostly has to do with things like buying a bad brand of whole wheat wraps so my turkey wrap was gross. And the fact that I'm trying to train myself to like eggs because they're so darn good for you (and easy, and fast, and cheap). Salsa has become the MVC (most valuable condiment) in my life.

In good news, I finally conquered a protein shake recipe and made a deeeelicious shake this afternoon. In case you're interested, the recipe (and by recipe, I mean vague ingredient list) is below. My problem so far is that I get really hungry between meals, but then can barely finish most of them when I start eating. I think I need to work on getting the portions right, I don't think I'm getting enough protein at each meal yet. So far, no real cravings. Occasionally a thought of something will cross my mind, but I haven't have that OMG I MUST EAT A BROWNIE RIGHT NOW feeling. So yay.

As for the workouts, yesterday was upper body. You pick two exercises for each major muscle group and basically do a pyramid workout. My weakness is definitely my chest/shoulders. I never work these areas out really, so that's where I'm sore today.

Today's workout was cardio, a 20 minute HIIT workout that I am LOVING. I really like changing up the intensity every minute or so, it makes the time fly. D was a good sport, even though he hates running.



Protein Shake
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (the brand I have is gross, which is why I had to add stuff)
- 1 tsp (approx.) PB2 (peanut flour)
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup milk
Shake shake shake.

Right off the bat, I am probably going to use the word *hard* a lot in this post. So go ahead and get all the 'that's what she said' jokes out of your system.

Done? Good.

I've been doing a lot of hard things lately.
Grad school? Hard.
Relationships? HARD.
Job hunting? Hard.
Working out? Hard.

Let's talk about that last one. Back in February, when Sundance was over and life was back to normal I started running again. And it was unbearable. Seriously. I remember feeling like I'd been running for ever and then looking and realizing it had been two minutes. Oy. That was the day I stopped looking at the clock on the treadmill.

But with time, and perseverance, running became something I love. Does that mean I want to run a half marathon or a 10K or anything? Absolutely not. I just don't have any real interest in it. I did, however, want to be able to run a 5K without stopping. And I did it. And it was awesome.

Something that seemed insurmountable at first was accomplished. And I discovered that with enough time, anything is possible.

When I think about the things I want most in my life, none of them are things I would just fall into (unless I won some sort of lottery that you don't have to enter). They are all things that would require effort, and work, and sweat, and tears. Which brings me to the above graphic.

It will be hard. (The best things are.) Do it anyway.

I made it so I can look at it when I'm thinking about quitting, or backing off, or wondering why I put effort into something when I can't always see results. The epilogue to that graphic is 'It's worth it.' And I truly believe that most things are worth it.

I'm a Libra, and apparently one of our traits is that we take the easy way out. I don't know why, but that's stuck with me since I first heard it. I don't want to be the person who won't put in the work. So I've been trying to do more hard things. And even though sometimes it does leave me sweating, or in tears, or whining to my parents, it's been a good thing in my life lately. In fact, I'm happier than I can ever remember being.

So what's my next hard thing? Well, D and I have been falling into the couple trap where we just eat whatever we feel like because eating icecream together is fun. And going out to eat a lot is fun. But these are not the habits that we want to build together. So, we're doing Body for Life. It's a 12 week challenge aimed at changing your eating and exercise habits (it's also totally safe and has been around since the mid 90s), and we're starting today.*

You might be hearing a lot about it on the blog, depending on how it goes. As with all new things, I will give this the best shot I can, but if it isn't for us, I won't feel any guilt about stopping. Mostly I'm hoping it'll get us away from eating take out and junk food as much as we do. We are pretty good at making dinner a few nights a week, but there is still a lot of pizza and Cafe Rio. 


*To be clear, I'm not trying to lose any weight. No sir. I want to tone things up, and I want to get into better shape and be supportive of D doing the same things.

I won't go into details, but circumstances last week led me on a solo trip to Grand Junction, Colorado. (interesting note: on the east coast, we say Colorahhhdo, but not with that much emphasis. Out west, they say Colorado, with the a like in apple.)

Most people probably wouldn't take a mini vacation alone, but being by myself doesn't bother me, and in fact is sort of refreshing. My amateur phone pictures don't do it justice, but this area of Colorado is absolutely breathtaking.

On my first night I went to a painting class, which was sort of terrifying because I'm not artistic in that respect. But I'm pretty pleased with the results.

The next morning I hiked in the Colorado National Monument. The views were amazing. I wish it was in my backyard, I could see myself doing a lot of hiking if it were this accessible.

That afternoon I visited the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens.

And walked around adorable downtown Grand Junction.

On my last day I was pretty lazy and did a lot of reading and watching 30 Rock. But I did manage to make it to Palisade (just east of GJ) to wander around some vineyards and orchards.

Solo traveling isn't for everyone, but I loved it. Because I used to travel for work I'm not bothered by eating alone or even going to a movie alone. If you aren't comfortable sitting alone at a restaurant, get takeout! Go to a movie on a weeknight (I saw Five Year Engagement, so funny!) if you're worried about what people will think. But really, don't worry, because you aren't in your hometown, so you don't know anyone. 

I do want to mention that I was very safe about this trip. At least one person knew where I was at all times, when to expect me back, etc. I meant to get pepper spray (D has been bugging me about it forever), but couldn't find any close by before I left SLC. 

On a sappier note, being on this trip made me realize in a very real way one of the reasons people get into relationships. As much fun as I had doing whatever I wanted by myself, there were times (a lot of times) when I just wanted D there so he could see what I was seeing, or so I could tell him something. I think we all have a desire to share our lives with someone, or as Sarah says, to have someone witness our life. This hit me when I was alone on this trip. But it's true what they say...distance makes the heart grow fonder, and we had a great reunion when I got back.

I honestly think this song needs no introduction. So I'll just say that Sarah turned me on to this band from the UK and I've been listening to this song non stop.

And yes, that's Abraham Lincoln in the video.

Today is my last day of the semester. All that's left is to email a final paper and attend one more class tonight. I also have to submit my grades, but that's not a big deal. So to celebrate my impending freedom, a list of things I am excited about.


1. open window weather

2. eating outside
3. beach trip with D's family in July
4. seeing my parents at the end of the July trip
5. summer dresses in fun patterns

6. the Cinco de Mayo party D and I just decided to throw...seems like a good excuse to try to recreate Cafe Rio pork!
7. more running in the park
8. swimming
9. lemonade
10. filming my thesis doc (OK, not exactly excited, more nervous, but I figured if I add it here maybe it would help

Someone is eating broccoli on TV
me: Do you like broccoli?
D: (gross face) No.
me: Noted.
D: Well, I like it steamed.
me: So you do like broccoli...
D: No, I like it steamed.
me: (metaphorical face to palm)

Trying the super healthy new banana bread recipe
D: Is it me, or is it missing flavor?
me: Well doesn't it taste like bananas?
D: Yeah, but, it's missing flavor.
me: There's no butter in it.
D: That's it.
me: It's missing butter flavor?
D: (looks at me like I'm an idiot) Yeah.

Maybe you don't think this is funny, but it cracks me up. And it's my blog ;)