What do you think of the new header??? My friend Monica made it for us. She's exceptionally talented and wonderful.
Anyone know how we get the comments link and labels to move to the bottom of the post? They got moved to the top and no one is quite sure how that happened. I am very technologically challenged at times.
Anyway, hurray for fancy new headers!!! Monica rules!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Friendly motivation
That’s right, I’m double blogging it today. I feel like I have to break in the new domain name adequately. Also, I didn’t want to seem too cranky after my ranting about snow earlier.
I have been pondering the idea of rewards lately after developing a reward system for my friend Chelse. Chelse is my best friend from college… we’re listed as in a relationship on Facebook, which should give you an idea of how ridiculous we are together (luckily her boyfriend doesn’t mind). She is adopting healthier habits, and as part of my efforts to help her out I have created a gold-star point chart. It is awesome. Also, it’s just a document in Excel. Long story short, Chelse is awarded a gold star each time she goes to the gym, with health eating bonuses and other bonuses to be awarded as I see fit. At certain points on the chart I reward her with something silly (she just reached 100 points and I gave her a gift subscription to Self magazine, for instance).
This is not something that would work with everyone, but for Chelse it seems to be helping. I asked her the other day if I’m annoying her by checking in every so often to see how many trips to the gym she’s made or how she’s doing, and she said it motivates her to know that I will be checking. I should mention that this wasn’t a case of me forcing my help upon this friend, and also this is someone I have known for years and I’m extremely close to. She is one of the people who refers to my mom and dad as “mom and dad,” and we live several hours apart so this is long-distance encouragement. I know that she is making these changes for herself and would be a motivated rock star regardless of our silly chart, but it’s a fun way to encourage her nonetheless. She could totally lie to me about going to the gym and I would believe her, so ultimately it is up to her to care about herself enough to go to the gym and eat healthy. Chelse has this to say about her glorious chart: “I find it more effective if I have to tell you every day that I go to the gym rather then once a week. I tell myself ‘I can not go and just deal with it later in the week.’” Also, she knows that I’ll stalk her if she tries to avoid me. That, and I don’t judge her if she doesn’t want to go to the gym or eat healthy, because that’s not my job. Really, I just enjoy gold stars and saying, “Yay Chelse!”
It goes both ways, luckily! She’s the person who motivated me to sign up for the half marathon, and that turned out splendidly for me. Chelse and her boyfriend were the founding members of my finish line cheering squad, and that definitely taught me that it’s awesome and super motivating to have a cheering squad. That’s the real point of the gold stars, to cheer her on as much as she’s cheered for me.
Lately as I’ve been wondering what on earth I am going to use as rewards for future chart accomplishments I’ve also been wondering why I don’t reward myself in the same ways. I think I should start. But what to use as a reward? Any ideas? It is definitely important to acknowledge my own accomplishments as much as I acknowledge those of my friends, and I have no idea why I haven’t been doing so all along. I encourage anyone reading this to go do something nice for yourself today. I will give you a gold star.
I have been pondering the idea of rewards lately after developing a reward system for my friend Chelse. Chelse is my best friend from college… we’re listed as in a relationship on Facebook, which should give you an idea of how ridiculous we are together (luckily her boyfriend doesn’t mind). She is adopting healthier habits, and as part of my efforts to help her out I have created a gold-star point chart. It is awesome. Also, it’s just a document in Excel. Long story short, Chelse is awarded a gold star each time she goes to the gym, with health eating bonuses and other bonuses to be awarded as I see fit. At certain points on the chart I reward her with something silly (she just reached 100 points and I gave her a gift subscription to Self magazine, for instance).
This is not something that would work with everyone, but for Chelse it seems to be helping. I asked her the other day if I’m annoying her by checking in every so often to see how many trips to the gym she’s made or how she’s doing, and she said it motivates her to know that I will be checking. I should mention that this wasn’t a case of me forcing my help upon this friend, and also this is someone I have known for years and I’m extremely close to. She is one of the people who refers to my mom and dad as “mom and dad,” and we live several hours apart so this is long-distance encouragement. I know that she is making these changes for herself and would be a motivated rock star regardless of our silly chart, but it’s a fun way to encourage her nonetheless. She could totally lie to me about going to the gym and I would believe her, so ultimately it is up to her to care about herself enough to go to the gym and eat healthy. Chelse has this to say about her glorious chart: “I find it more effective if I have to tell you every day that I go to the gym rather then once a week. I tell myself ‘I can not go and just deal with it later in the week.’” Also, she knows that I’ll stalk her if she tries to avoid me. That, and I don’t judge her if she doesn’t want to go to the gym or eat healthy, because that’s not my job. Really, I just enjoy gold stars and saying, “Yay Chelse!”
It goes both ways, luckily! She’s the person who motivated me to sign up for the half marathon, and that turned out splendidly for me. Chelse and her boyfriend were the founding members of my finish line cheering squad, and that definitely taught me that it’s awesome and super motivating to have a cheering squad. That’s the real point of the gold stars, to cheer her on as much as she’s cheered for me.
Lately as I’ve been wondering what on earth I am going to use as rewards for future chart accomplishments I’ve also been wondering why I don’t reward myself in the same ways. I think I should start. But what to use as a reward? Any ideas? It is definitely important to acknowledge my own accomplishments as much as I acknowledge those of my friends, and I have no idea why I haven’t been doing so all along. I encourage anyone reading this to go do something nice for yourself today. I will give you a gold star.
Bah humbug.
You know the episode of Gilmore Girls where Lorelai is super excited because it starts to snow, and then the next morning she has a series of unfortunate events that make her hate the snow? It’s while she’s dating Luke, I think, in one of the later seasons. What, you mean not everyone loves to watch reruns of Gilmore Girls? You’re all missing out. Anyway, I’m totally right there with Lorelai in aspects other than my exceptional love for coffee and ability to speak very quickly and often.
I grew up in Eastern Oregon, where snow and cattle ranches are both prevalent, and dealt with wintery conditions for six months out of the year. That’s only a slight exaggeration. I hated the snow with undying passion by the time I moved to Central Oregon, which is a lovely place filled with sunshine and warm weather and not nearly as much snow. In the 2.5 years I’ve lived here, I can remember it snowing once before this week. Of course, go 45 minutes south and the snow is much more abundant…and that’s just the type of distance I like to keep from snow.
This year when the weather man started predicting snow, I was surprised to find myself excited. Way back in the day I also lived in Western Oregon (I’ve basically called every part of this lovely state home at one point in my life) where it rains but rarely snows, and a snow day was a magical gift that we received maybe once a year. Snow was definitely exciting then. When it started to snow I found myself looking out the window and thinking of how pretty snow made everything—so magical and fluffy and sparkly, and just in time for Christmas!
Screw that. Snow sucks. It sucks a lot. I hate snow with undying passion and now I remember why: it makes people drive like morons, it’s f-ing cold, it causes me to have to heat up my car for approximately a year, and the dog goes outside and rolls around in it and promptly tries to jump on me cause she finds it exciting and doesn’t realize how f-ing cold and ridiculous it is. Now I have to wear twelve million layers for warmth, and my feet always seem slightly damp. The heaters in my house can’t keep up with the below zero temperatures, and the weather prevents me from any outdoor running which makes me cranky (though I have to keep in mind that my last outdoor run was last Saturday, so a mere three days without running certainly won’t kill me). Once the temperature gets back to double digits I might be more forgiving, but when it is –10 I tend to get cranky.
I read an article online about people running outdoors at temperatures like –40. I would really like to know what on earth is wrong with them, as I refuse to step a running shoe clad foot outside if it gets below 11 degrees or so. Speaking of the elements preventing me from my chosen favorite method of exercise, my DVD player broke with the 30 Day Shred DVD inside. I can’t seem to get it to play and/or open so I can get the DVD out. That’s one problem I plan to solve. The –10 temperature is beyond my control, unfortunately. I’m quite glad for things like my elliptical and variety of exercise DVDs, as I’m pretty sure no exercise at all is a bad idea.
I’m trying to be in the Christmas spirit and be all merry and spreading holiday cheer and shit, but it’s hard to do when I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose a toe due to hypothermia just from sitting by the drafty door in my office. I think I should probably move to Arizona or Florida or the equator or something.
Today I’m trying to combat my cold-weather crankiness with Christmas joy in the form of Kristin Chenoweth’s holiday album. I love her, pretty much. And I hope to regain my holiday cheer before the Christmas season is gone completely--cause holy crap, it is December 16 already, and how the hell did that happen? I’ll let you know if it works…
I grew up in Eastern Oregon, where snow and cattle ranches are both prevalent, and dealt with wintery conditions for six months out of the year. That’s only a slight exaggeration. I hated the snow with undying passion by the time I moved to Central Oregon, which is a lovely place filled with sunshine and warm weather and not nearly as much snow. In the 2.5 years I’ve lived here, I can remember it snowing once before this week. Of course, go 45 minutes south and the snow is much more abundant…and that’s just the type of distance I like to keep from snow.
This year when the weather man started predicting snow, I was surprised to find myself excited. Way back in the day I also lived in Western Oregon (I’ve basically called every part of this lovely state home at one point in my life) where it rains but rarely snows, and a snow day was a magical gift that we received maybe once a year. Snow was definitely exciting then. When it started to snow I found myself looking out the window and thinking of how pretty snow made everything—so magical and fluffy and sparkly, and just in time for Christmas!
Screw that. Snow sucks. It sucks a lot. I hate snow with undying passion and now I remember why: it makes people drive like morons, it’s f-ing cold, it causes me to have to heat up my car for approximately a year, and the dog goes outside and rolls around in it and promptly tries to jump on me cause she finds it exciting and doesn’t realize how f-ing cold and ridiculous it is. Now I have to wear twelve million layers for warmth, and my feet always seem slightly damp. The heaters in my house can’t keep up with the below zero temperatures, and the weather prevents me from any outdoor running which makes me cranky (though I have to keep in mind that my last outdoor run was last Saturday, so a mere three days without running certainly won’t kill me). Once the temperature gets back to double digits I might be more forgiving, but when it is –10 I tend to get cranky.
I read an article online about people running outdoors at temperatures like –40. I would really like to know what on earth is wrong with them, as I refuse to step a running shoe clad foot outside if it gets below 11 degrees or so. Speaking of the elements preventing me from my chosen favorite method of exercise, my DVD player broke with the 30 Day Shred DVD inside. I can’t seem to get it to play and/or open so I can get the DVD out. That’s one problem I plan to solve. The –10 temperature is beyond my control, unfortunately. I’m quite glad for things like my elliptical and variety of exercise DVDs, as I’m pretty sure no exercise at all is a bad idea.
I’m trying to be in the Christmas spirit and be all merry and spreading holiday cheer and shit, but it’s hard to do when I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose a toe due to hypothermia just from sitting by the drafty door in my office. I think I should probably move to Arizona or Florida or the equator or something.
Today I’m trying to combat my cold-weather crankiness with Christmas joy in the form of Kristin Chenoweth’s holiday album. I love her, pretty much. And I hope to regain my holiday cheer before the Christmas season is gone completely--cause holy crap, it is December 16 already, and how the hell did that happen? I’ll let you know if it works…
Monday, December 15, 2008
Announcement
We are now the proud owners of www.pink-spandex.com! Aren't we so fancy?
You can also now e-mail us at leslie@pink-spandex.com or shawna@pink-spandex.com.
Kindly be very impressed and e-mail us to tell us interesting and exciting things.
Edited to add: We are also having some technical issues. Are any of you web designers who want to be our new best friends? Please?
Edited again to add: How convenient, I am ALREADY best friends with a web designer!!! I love when that happens!
You can also now e-mail us at leslie@pink-spandex.com or shawna@pink-spandex.com.
Kindly be very impressed and e-mail us to tell us interesting and exciting things.
Edited to add: We are also having some technical issues. Are any of you web designers who want to be our new best friends? Please?
Edited again to add: How convenient, I am ALREADY best friends with a web designer!!! I love when that happens!
Brrrr!
I am typing this with mittens on because my desk is next to the drafty front door of my office. Currently the temperature here (with wind chill factor) is -10. That's damn cold.
It's supposed to stay this way all week. As such, there will not be much running outside for the next few days. I plan to make up for it with quality time on the elliptical as well as periods of dancing like a fool throughout my house. Other things too, probably.
The inability to go for a run without freezing to death has prompted me to look forward to future running endeavors. Last year in April I ran my first 5k ever, and just told a friend (who ran the first 5k with me) that I'm going to do the half marathon held on the same day this year. So there is another 13.1 miles in my future! When it is much warmer, luckily.
It's supposed to stay this way all week. As such, there will not be much running outside for the next few days. I plan to make up for it with quality time on the elliptical as well as periods of dancing like a fool throughout my house. Other things too, probably.
The inability to go for a run without freezing to death has prompted me to look forward to future running endeavors. Last year in April I ran my first 5k ever, and just told a friend (who ran the first 5k with me) that I'm going to do the half marathon held on the same day this year. So there is another 13.1 miles in my future! When it is much warmer, luckily.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
New rule
When there is a winter weather advisory and the temperature is exceptionally close to zero degrees, I will not go running outside because that would be ridiculous.
Hello, nice warm interior of my house with an elliptical machine...
Hello, nice warm interior of my house with an elliptical machine...
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Ugly Christmas sweater fun!
Yesterday Shawna and I gave each other the Christmas gifts we made for each other, all while enjoying some pizza and beer.
I was going to post a photo of Shawna with the gift I made her, except I made the same thing for someone else and I don't want them to see! But here is a photo of what Shawna made me... a Pink Spandex mascot!!!! And yes, she is wearing pink spandex!
And of course... we wore ugly Christmas sweaters. And decorated them with clip on birds and ribbon. We looked so lovely. I should mention that it wasn't an ugly Christmas sweater party, we're just that cool. Perhaps the reason we're both still single is that while other girls show up to social events looking their best, we see clip on birds and think, "WOW, this is the perfect accessory!!!"
Shawna wanted to show off what was on the back of her sweater. I had nothing to show off but could not be upstaged. And might I add... I bought size 10 pants yesterday!!! YAY!
So that was our Christmas party adventure in a nutshell... Also, it snowed! Oregon is supposed to get some super cold weather all weekend and allegedly the snow is going to continue, but where I live it's currently just melting instead. Have a lovely rest of the weekend, blog readers!
I was going to post a photo of Shawna with the gift I made her, except I made the same thing for someone else and I don't want them to see! But here is a photo of what Shawna made me... a Pink Spandex mascot!!!! And yes, she is wearing pink spandex!
And of course... we wore ugly Christmas sweaters. And decorated them with clip on birds and ribbon. We looked so lovely. I should mention that it wasn't an ugly Christmas sweater party, we're just that cool. Perhaps the reason we're both still single is that while other girls show up to social events looking their best, we see clip on birds and think, "WOW, this is the perfect accessory!!!"
Shawna wanted to show off what was on the back of her sweater. I had nothing to show off but could not be upstaged. And might I add... I bought size 10 pants yesterday!!! YAY!
So that was our Christmas party adventure in a nutshell... Also, it snowed! Oregon is supposed to get some super cold weather all weekend and allegedly the snow is going to continue, but where I live it's currently just melting instead. Have a lovely rest of the weekend, blog readers!
Sugar cookie tea contest!
Soo.... Four people entered our contest, which is approximately three more readers than I thought we had! WOO!
Lucky for all of you, the holiday tea was on sale for super cheap this week, and seeing as how so few people entered Shawna and I thought it was only appropriate to make you ALL winners!!! So Georgianna, Sarah, Becky, and Jamie will all receive a box of sugar cookie tea courtesy of the ladies of Pink Spandex.
E-mail me your addresses to slayerofmasculinity@gmail.com and I'll get it in the mail. Also, I promise not to stalk you. And thank you for reading/entering!
Tomorrow I'll post photos of a Christmas party adventure. There were ugly sweaters, hair ribbons, and clip on birds. Also, Shawna created a Pink Spandex mascot as my Christmas gift and it is AWESOME. Photos to follow soon.
Lucky for all of you, the holiday tea was on sale for super cheap this week, and seeing as how so few people entered Shawna and I thought it was only appropriate to make you ALL winners!!! So Georgianna, Sarah, Becky, and Jamie will all receive a box of sugar cookie tea courtesy of the ladies of Pink Spandex.
E-mail me your addresses to slayerofmasculinity@gmail.com and I'll get it in the mail. Also, I promise not to stalk you. And thank you for reading/entering!
Tomorrow I'll post photos of a Christmas party adventure. There were ugly sweaters, hair ribbons, and clip on birds. Also, Shawna created a Pink Spandex mascot as my Christmas gift and it is AWESOME. Photos to follow soon.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Insert hilarity here
So I'm walking into my office this morning (after having worked till 10 last night) and carrying the following: a travel mug o' tea, my water bottle, a tupperware container of vegetable soup, an orange, a string cheese, my purse, my keys, a notebook, and my dignity.
Naturally, I proceeded to somehow loose my grip on the tea and spilled it all over me. The fact that I burned my hand didn't really phase me because I was too busy saying, "Oh my, what a caTEAstrophe!"
No one has laughed at this so far. Please humor me and tell me it was funny, if only because I am sleep deprived today.
Naturally, I proceeded to somehow loose my grip on the tea and spilled it all over me. The fact that I burned my hand didn't really phase me because I was too busy saying, "Oh my, what a caTEAstrophe!"
No one has laughed at this so far. Please humor me and tell me it was funny, if only because I am sleep deprived today.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Skeletons in my closet
I am weird. I know this. Years ago I chose to just accept my fate as an unusual creature and roll with it. As a result, I kind of amuse myself sometimes. Also, I’m terribly socially awkward.
I started a project yesterday that illustrated this fact. After months of procrastination, I’ve finally decided to tackle my closet—something I’ve been saying I will do for about a year. It’s scary in there, people. My closet is a wasteland of sizes that don’t fit me anymore but still hang around so that I don’t have to run around naked. There is also a pile o’ stuff lining the floor of the closet due to lack of storage space in my house. As such, my closet is literally full of surprises. Hello, size 20 skirt I didn’t know I still had. And good afternoon, random box of craft supplies.
Yesterday at the very back of the pile I happened upon a bridesmaids dress that I wore for a friend’s wedding in September 2007. Naturally, I wondered if it still fit, so on it went. It’s a size 16 dress that was kind of tight on me to begin with (girdles were almost necessary), and let me tell you there is room to spare in it now. Inches and inches of spare fabric are left empty where my body used to fill the space. It was odd. I know I have made my body smaller, but sometimes I still forget and surprise myself.
The thing of it is, I have some really bad memories from around that time period involving my body. Several nights before the wedding my friend’s neighbor mistook me for someone else and asked what was with my beer belly, mocking me before he realized he’d never met me. There were other things, comments from friends that they probably didn’t realize hurt me, dress shopping adventures where I had to try on a size 8 sample size and used humor to cover the fact that oh my god, that was just a ridiculous idea. It probably didn’t help that very little sleep was had for about three days prior to the event, but man did I feel like crap when I got home. I left for that wedding feeling pretty good about myself—I’d lost about 30 or 40 pounds at that point, and was in better shape than I’d been in for years. When I arrived back at home a week later I can’t say that I felt the same.
I remembered all of that last night when I tried the dress on. I can so clearly recall buying the size 16 and being excited that I was that size. I never thought I would be smaller than that. But here I am, able to put both my arms inside the dress along with my body and still have room to spare. How did that happen? I know that if I want to keep this weight off I need to fix things on the inside too, and so it’s important to think about how my mindset has changed. Part of the problem I’ve had in the past, I think, is that I never believed I could lead a life where I wasn’t fat. The saddest thing is that I think people around me thought the same thing. I believe in myself now, but does everyone else? I wandered my bedroom with the size 16 dress hanging off me, and realized that I loved myself then, and I love myself now. It isn’t so much that my mindset has changed, as it is that my ability to believe in myself is different. This was some deep Tuesday night thinking, my friends.
As I pondered, I found a really cute pair of shoes that I bought for $2 a long time ago. And that is how I came to find myself wearing a fancy red dress, with green sparkly heels, sitting on the floor of my bedroom cleaning my closet last night. I mean, that’s not that weird, right? You’ve all done it too? The closet never did get really clean, but at least I looked pretty bangin’ while I got distracted from my project.
I started a project yesterday that illustrated this fact. After months of procrastination, I’ve finally decided to tackle my closet—something I’ve been saying I will do for about a year. It’s scary in there, people. My closet is a wasteland of sizes that don’t fit me anymore but still hang around so that I don’t have to run around naked. There is also a pile o’ stuff lining the floor of the closet due to lack of storage space in my house. As such, my closet is literally full of surprises. Hello, size 20 skirt I didn’t know I still had. And good afternoon, random box of craft supplies.
Yesterday at the very back of the pile I happened upon a bridesmaids dress that I wore for a friend’s wedding in September 2007. Naturally, I wondered if it still fit, so on it went. It’s a size 16 dress that was kind of tight on me to begin with (girdles were almost necessary), and let me tell you there is room to spare in it now. Inches and inches of spare fabric are left empty where my body used to fill the space. It was odd. I know I have made my body smaller, but sometimes I still forget and surprise myself.
The thing of it is, I have some really bad memories from around that time period involving my body. Several nights before the wedding my friend’s neighbor mistook me for someone else and asked what was with my beer belly, mocking me before he realized he’d never met me. There were other things, comments from friends that they probably didn’t realize hurt me, dress shopping adventures where I had to try on a size 8 sample size and used humor to cover the fact that oh my god, that was just a ridiculous idea. It probably didn’t help that very little sleep was had for about three days prior to the event, but man did I feel like crap when I got home. I left for that wedding feeling pretty good about myself—I’d lost about 30 or 40 pounds at that point, and was in better shape than I’d been in for years. When I arrived back at home a week later I can’t say that I felt the same.
I remembered all of that last night when I tried the dress on. I can so clearly recall buying the size 16 and being excited that I was that size. I never thought I would be smaller than that. But here I am, able to put both my arms inside the dress along with my body and still have room to spare. How did that happen? I know that if I want to keep this weight off I need to fix things on the inside too, and so it’s important to think about how my mindset has changed. Part of the problem I’ve had in the past, I think, is that I never believed I could lead a life where I wasn’t fat. The saddest thing is that I think people around me thought the same thing. I believe in myself now, but does everyone else? I wandered my bedroom with the size 16 dress hanging off me, and realized that I loved myself then, and I love myself now. It isn’t so much that my mindset has changed, as it is that my ability to believe in myself is different. This was some deep Tuesday night thinking, my friends.
As I pondered, I found a really cute pair of shoes that I bought for $2 a long time ago. And that is how I came to find myself wearing a fancy red dress, with green sparkly heels, sitting on the floor of my bedroom cleaning my closet last night. I mean, that’s not that weird, right? You’ve all done it too? The closet never did get really clean, but at least I looked pretty bangin’ while I got distracted from my project.
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