January 11, 2012

I was sitting in class today when my ex-fiance sent me a text. I have since deleted it, but it said something to effect of Hey, it's been a while. You popped into my head. I hope you're doing well. Without getting into too many details, this is the man that I was with for a little over 8 years, who decided to end our relationship about a week before Christmas 2 years ago, who wrote and posted a personal ad before I had a chance move out a few weeks later, who moved another guy into his house about 2 months after that, who wouldn't allow me to recover most of the furniture that I had purchased during our relationship, who then stopped talking to me all together. I can only imagine what way I popped into his head.

In order to build a relationship with someone, you have to build a friendship with that person as well. I feel like I did that with him during the course of our relationship, but the way I was treated after our relationship ended was nothing resembling friendship. Part of me would like nothing more than to be able to once again share a friendship with someone that I've known for a very long time, but then again, not speaking to him has made life that much easier for me. I have forgiven him long ago for the difficult path that I had to walk as a result of him, but even after you forgive someone, it doesn't mean that you don't have to be friends with them. Maybe one day we'll run into each other and a friendship will begin again. Doubtful, but who knows what life has in store for us.

At any rate I replied to his text with Doing well, thanks. And that, as they say, is that.

January 9, 2012

Yesterday I started on a low carbohydrate diet. I did one about 2 years ago, and to my astonishment released about 30 unwanted pounds back to the universe. I don't use the terminology "lost weight" because my friend Kathy says that when you loose something, you want to eventually get it back. Well, that's what I did. I stopped exercising and really just ate whatever I wanted to, and managed to have all the fat find me again.

However, I am reminded of how I weaned myself off of the low carb lifestyle. I am surrounded by carbs, and if you want to grab a quick lunch out somewhere, your options are severely limited. Yesterday I made a casserole to have for dinners this week, along side a nice side salad. I combined about 14 eggs, 1 pound of sausage, 1 pound of mushrooms, 1 package of frozen spinach, and 1 8oz package of shredded cheese, along with a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper in a casserole dish and baked it for about 30 minutes. The end result is very satisfying, but I'm sitting her wondering if I can go out tonight.

Since I am on the first two weeks of the diet, induction, it demands I follow a very strict list of foods that I can eat. My partner, Nathaniel, signed us up to go out to eat to a Thai restaurant on Friday night, and while the menu looks delicious, it is also filled with stuff that I just can't eat. Ah well, if I can make it through this two weeks, I'll be alright. At the end of the two weeks we are having a dinner party with friends, and I can chow down on small portions of things that I've had to exclude from my diet. I keep daydreaming about banana pudding though.....

Also, today was day 1 of the "8 minutes in the morning" plan. Essentially a plan developed by Jorge Cruise to start incorporating exercise into your daily routine. Nothing remarkable to report about day 1, other that it's really strange for me to get up and lift weights first thing in the morning. When I did exercise a lot, it was mostly in the middle of the day after I had gotten off of work. Anyway, "8 minutes in the morning" is a 4 week plan, and I've committed to giving it a try. Wish me luck!

January 2, 2012

....Fifth, I want to try to incorporate yoga into my daily routine.

Sixth, I would like to try to eliminate processed foods from my diet. This goal is little bit more complicated than the others so I will truly be giving myself all year to accomplish this. I plan to begin by eliminated "fast food" from my diet, followed by the over-processed, manufactured foods from the grocery store, leaving me with more of "whole foods" eating style.

Seventh, since my school schedule will be so demanding this semester, I plan hone my time management skills. I have previously been terrible at this, but a project with a classmate semester made me start writing down all of assignments on a calendar, breaking up large assignments into smaller, easily accomplished goals, and not crashing on the couch and watching hours of television when I get home from school. The latter has been difficult to break, especially since the end of the Fall semester I have been working longer hours, and when I get home from work I just want to let me mind to turn to jelly.

Seven goals. It seems like a lot, but I feel as if there were more I had in mind..... 

January 1, 2012

Ah the momentous first post a blog. The point at which I grab the reader and take them on the journey that I call my life. Meh, that's not really why I'm starting this blog. Along my spiritual journey I have been told of the importance of writing, so I'm making a commitment to myself to write this blog for an entire year, maybe more if I enjoy the experience. I hope to chronicle my journey through school, my goals for 2012, my spiritual journey, and anything else that I just feel inspired to write about.

So, what about these goals for 2012? First, but not necessarily foremost, I want to finally get a tattoo. For a long time I've been wanting to get a lotus tattoo on my forearm, and as the years have gone by that want has not changed. Sounds like I need to get over my fear of having this thing permanently etched on my skin and just do it. My biggest fear is what if I look at it after it's done and I hate it? Or there's something I just don't quite like?

Second, I hope to do a little bit of religious exploration. I've been wanting to go to a Buddhist "church"for a while, but I haven't taken that step. I also don't know if you're allowed to just visit a Jewish synagogue, Muslim mosque, etc, but I would like to go there as well.

Third, and I know it's cliche, but I would like release a few unwanted pounds to the universe. Seeing some abs would be nice too.

Fourth, I want to open up an ETSY.com shop. This is mainly in order to help supplement my income. I'm going to school full-time and majoring as an Occupational Therapy Assistant, but I've had to reduce the amount of hours that I can work in order to take my classes, and I wasn't able to get financial aid.

I have more goals, but we'll talk more about those later....