College for Old People

My mom lives in a retirement community.  She moved there a few years ago even though she is still young- still in her 60's.  She has her own condo and some of the people there have their own houses (called cottages) but still get all the benefits of the community.  Let me tell you some of the stuff they have- a dining hall, a pub, a library, a pool, a work-out room, a barber shop/beauty parlor, a meditation chapel, walking trails, and probably lots more stuff I don't even know about.  They do activities ALL THE TIME.  I always tell people it is like college for old people.  That is the only way I know how to describe how much partying and socializing they do!

I saw this today on another blog and I was going to send it to my mom, but I thought I'd just share it here since I know she reads my blog.  I know she'll get a kick out of it and I hope you do too!

Happy Blogiversary!

I missed something important on Friday. It was my 3 year Blogiversary!!  I started this little blog back on July 22, 2008.  I can't believe it has been 3 years and how much my life has changed in those 3 years.  I wonder where I will be 3 years from now? 

And in just under 3 weeks I will turn 31.  I am hoping to complete the list by then. I was disappointed when I didn't complete it by 30.  I had too many lofty goals to complete it in 2 years!  But I really want to close this chapter and start a new one!  The blog will morph into something different.  I am thinking about doing an "After 30" list or a "40 before 40" list.  Not sure yet.  I've been making a list of ideas for the next list.

What would you like to see on the next list?

The Change-Up

Last night I got to see a sneak preview of my future hubby and favorite hottie's new movie The Change-Up.

Could he be any more adorable/freaking smoking hot??!!

The movie was raunchy!  But good!  and HILARIOUS!  It was an over-the-top kind of craziness like The Wedding Crashers, There's Something about Mary, or The Hangover.  My mouth was hanging open in shock and there were times I couldn't even look at the screen!

Also Ryan Reynold's character's life (his original character- Mitch) reminded me of The Crush somewhat and the more I looked at him the more The Crush started to look like Ryan Reynold's in my mind!

Anyway, here's the trailer.  It comes out August 5th and I would recommend it but with caution- this one definitely deserves it's R rating!

Pinterest Love and Weight Loss

I am obsessed with Pinterest!  If you haven't discovered the awesomeness of Pinterest and need an invite just let me know and I can send you one.  But be forewarned- it is super addicting.

It is basically a virtual inspiration board.  Say you are browsing the internet or blogs and you see an image that gives you a great idea for your house or a recipe you want to try or even just something that makes you smile or inspires you.  All you do is click "Pin it" on your browser and you can save it to one of your "pin boards".

I don't have it completely figured out.  I think it is kind of hard to find people to follow.  I signed up through Twitter, so I only know how to follow my twitter friends.  So follow me on twitter (@ncsuz) and then I can find you on Pinterest too and we can inspire each other!

Here are some of my recent pins:

I have a board called "thinspiration" (which is apparently an anorexia term- who knew!).  It really has been inspiring but don't worry I am not anorexic even though I pin super skinny girls to inspire me to get my butt in shape!

I did finish week one of Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 DVD and I lost 2.5 lbs!  Yay!  I am also running 10-15 miles/week and going to the gym- although the morning gym routines have been only 1-2x's per week lately.  And I'm still taking the stairs at work which might be the hardest of them all!  Five flights of stairs in heels carrying a semi-heavy laptop bag and purse is not easy.  And it doesn't help I have this huge fear of missing a step and tumbling down the concrete stairs!  Am I the only one with this irrational fear??  Do you take the stairs at work?

Fill in the Blank Friday

I'm officially back to blogging.  I'm ignoring the haters.  I love blogging and I love my readers.  Seriously you guys rock and your little words or encouragement are like great big bear hugs to me!

I haven't done a Fill in a Blank Friday in a while, so I thought I'd bring it back.

Join in over on Lauren's blog.

1.   I am a (morning, evening, middle of the day person)   evening person for sure. I work out best at night, I stay up late, I love nighttime. 

2.  My favorite Pandora stations are    Mumford and Sons, Kings of Leon, Joshua Radin, Weezer, Sugarland, Chris Tomlin, Priscilla Ahn, Dave Matthews, Kanye West, or Wolfgang Amadeus depending on my mood.

3.  3 of my "must-have" songs for a road trip playlist are     Baby Got Back by Sir Mix a Lot, Carolina on My Mind by James Taylor, Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffett    .

4.  My favorite pattern is   stripes.  I have so many things with stripes…big stripes, small stripes, 2 color stripes, and multicolored stripes.  I definitely love stripes.

5.  My favorite perfume is     just about anything Escada  .

6.  Rules are      good for structure.  

7.  My most overused phrase or punctuation is      “ Oh My” and "like".  And I love...dots...ellipses...pauses in my text...a continuation...like Bentley I love a dot dot dot   . 

Going to see Harry Potter tonight! Woo Hoo!! Tomorrow I'm going to a warehouse sale my company is having and then volunteering at the Raleigh Rescue Mission as part of Serve RDU Week.  Tomorrow night "the crew" is having a big party to celebrate all the July birthdays and the Sunday will be church and relaxing.  It's going to be a good weekend!


Hope you guys have a fabulous weekend!!

#1- Get in the Best Shape of my LIFE!

My birthday is quickly approaching and I want to finish my 30 Before 30 list by then.  The #1 thing is to get in the best shape of my life, and it is probably one of the hardest.  I'm having a hard time defining- "best shape of my life".

I certainly won't be at my lowest weight ever by then...in fact I am on the upper end of my weight spectrum now.  But I think I am in pretty good shape.  I never thought I could run a 5K and now I've done four!  I work out regularly and feel strong.  So what is the actual goal?

Well, I found this old spreadsheet where I tracked my weight loss and workouts from 2005-2007.  Back then I lost about 50 pounds and was feeling pretty good about my body.  I kept track of when I reach little fitness goals- like when I ran an 11 min. mile and when I ran a 10 min. mile and the first time I ran all the way around the lake without walking (2.25 miles).

So in order for me to feel confident about marking #1 off my list I will have to run a 9 min. mile and do 2 laps around the lake without walking (4.5 miles). 

If I do a 9 min. mile I think that will be the best I have ever done because when I played soccer in high school we ran the mile once a week and I sucked at it.  JV players had to do in in under 12 minutes and Varsity players under 10 minutes.  I HATED mile day.  I would much rather do circuits or drills or suicides or anything but the mile.  I always came in towards the back right under 10 minutes.  I doubt I ever did it in 9 minutes.  I'm telling you, I am a slow runner when it comes to distance!

Yesterday I took a baseline to see how far I have to go to get to the 9 min. mile goal.  On the treadmill a 6.7 will get you to a mile in just under 9 minutes.  I jogged at that pace for 5 minutes then I had to take a walking break (2 min., I probably could have just done 1 min. though and been fine).  Then I cranked it back up to 6.7.  But when I looked down I was already at .75 miles so I cranked it up to 7.2-7.4 and ran until I got a mile in.  I did it in 9:59.  So basically I have to cut a minute off that.

My friend and work out buddy says it is all mental.  She thinks I can do it physically but I just freak myself out and want to walk.  It's so frustrating.  But I WILL DO THIS.  I am determined. 

BTW...you gals that can run 15 miles at a 7 min/mile pace are freaking rockstars!  Your are like my idols...I don't think I will ever get to that point!

I also had to switch up my running routine.  I used to wait until 9-10pm at night and take Cam for a run around my neighborhood but the other night we got stalked by a bobcat.  Yes, a freaking bobcat.  Or maybe it could have been a fox now that I see them in pictures:

Fox

bobcat

It was dark so I can't be sure, but we've seen a fox before and it looked bigger than the fox, his ears weren't that big, and it had a cropped tail.  Whatever it was it scared the crap out of me and Cam.  It came out of the bushes a few yards in front of us and we stopped and I thought it would get scared and just dart back in the bushes or across the street.  Oh, no.  That sucker came right for us!  Cam just started running away and I tried yelling and growling at it, but that just slowed it down for a minute.  I ran across the road and up a hill to a grocery store and it followed us!  It stayed on the perimter of the parking lot and we hung out by the front door where it was well lit, staring each other down.  Then it disappeared.  When I thought it was gone we tried to make our way back to the house.  But then it popped back up behind us!  I yelled and screamed at it to go away and we ran for our lives all the way back to the house!  Now I am scared to go on anymore night time runs around the neighborhood!

This is also a problem:

That's right it was over 100 degrees out yesterday when I went to the gym at lunch!  And it doesn't get much better at night.  I went for a quick run on Monday night around 9:30 (not straying too far from the house and keeping an eye out for the bobcat) and when I got home and checked the temperature it was 89 degrees still!  So the heat is keeping me indoors mostly for now!

I also started this on Monday:

So far I am loving it!  I'll keep you updated on my progress!

How would you define "best shape of your life"?

Blogging Break

I took a little break from blogging. First I got some really crappy anonymous comments. Most of them I didn’t even publish. Some bothered me, but some I just laughed at. I’m blocking anonymous comments from my blog now because if you feel the need to leave a hateful comment, you should at least have to put your name. I know not everyone will always love and agree with me and I love hearing different thoughts and opinions. What I don’t understand is why someone would want to be just hateful towards other people. I just don’t get it. And honestly, it makes you look like a jerk. There are better, more effective and respectful ways to voice your opinions. That’s all I am going to say about that.

Then I had a few crazy things happen that would make great stories on here, but they were things I was a little embarrassed about. They would be great to share so you guys could learn from my mistakes. And they would definitely make you laugh, but in the end I decided not to share them on here because I don’t need to put everything out there. It is ok to keep some things just between me and my real life friends.

Anyway, I just got back from the first annual crew beach trip. I freaking love my friends. We are like one big fun, crazy family. We had a great time! It went by way too fast. Now I am back to the daily grind. Every weekend between now and the end of August is booked, so I feel like the rest of the summer is going to fly by!

I also just found out my ex got married to someone I went to high school with. It is weird and really ironic because I’m from a small town over 3 hours away which my ex had no ties to. His cousin works where I take my dog for boarding, so when I was dropping him off she says “You know (your ex) got married last weekend?” (why, why did she feel the need to tell me this??) I just said “oh really, wow, well tell him I said congratulations.” Then she goes on and on about how nice she is and how she is even more country than him and that they got married in Morganton, NC. At that I was like “What?! that is where I am from!” She said yeah, she is from there too apparently. I don’t know why that bothered me so much. I think it was because I love Morganton and would totally love to get married there, but my mom retired and moved to High Point, so now there would be no reason for me to go back there to get married. I looked up his now wife’s name through his Facebook and it was a very unique first name so I was able to figure out who she was. She was one year behind me in school…which is weird because he was way older than me, but whatever. Ok, moving on…I’m trying not to think about it too much.

I am getting a little depressed because I have been battling with negative thoughts, the hater comments I got, and the pressure to finish the list in the next month (which I do not think is going to happen). Some days I am on a high and think “Man, this is a great life!” but some days suck. I’m struggling with whether or not I should keep opening myself up on this blog. Is it worth it? Do I still enjoy it? I don’t know. So bear with me because things may be a little sparse around here until I get my head clear.

In the meantime, go check out my recent Bookshelf Blog reviews:

 

The Lincoln Lawyer- 4 out of 5 stars

Commencement- 4 out of 5 stars