The Smell of Winter

I was in Pittsburgh over the weekend, and it snowed on Saturday.  Not a lot, just enough to cover the roads in the morning, and require a snow brush.  It had mostly melted by yesterday afternoon, but it was still cold.  I was watching Downton Abbey with my mom and snuggling with my Babydog (Murphy's nickname...).  I had opened the window at the top of the bed in my mom's room just a crack so the icy air was seeping in, and it smelled like winter.  People in Georgia probably don't know what winter smells like.  It has never smelled like snow here.  It gets chilly, and sometimes there is even frost on my windshield, but it has not once smelled like snow, with a hint of woodsmoke from a fireplace. 

While I was home, I went to see the Madeleine Albright pin exhibit.  It was pretty interesting, although I was sort of hoping to see more pictures of her wearing the actual pins.  Still, they were pretty cool.  I think my favorite pin was actually one that was given to her by a man whose mother passed away during Hurricane Katrina.  His mother was a fan, and the pin was a gift for her 60th wedding anniversary, I think.  Not the most interesting pin, or the most unique, but for sure one with meaning.  We also got a chance to see an exhibit of photographs taken by Pittsburgh native Teeny Harris.  He was a freelance photographer for an African-American newspaper in Pittsburgh from the  1940's until the 1970's.  The exhibit featured over 300 of his photographs.  A lot of people don't know that Pittsburgh's Hill District was a really important center of African American culture during that time.  I won't pretend to be an expert, but many many important jazz artists and other musicians had strong ties to the Hill.  The photos were amazing.  Fashions, famous figures, lifestyle shots, urban landscapes...amazing.  My grandma was less than amazed...but I wasn't surprised.  My mom and I both agreed that we could have spent the whole day just in that room.  You should Google it.

I also went and worked out at the new LA Fitness on McKnight road and let me say, while it was crowded (Saturday morning though), it was VERY nice.  Much nicer than the club I work out at.

This weekend is the weekend I finally tackle my dreaded closet.  I mean it.  Now it's been published, so now you all know, so now I have to follow through.  If these cats don't cause me to be admitted to the hospital for some kind of major allergic crisis, which is entirely possible.  I have BIG PLANS for this closet people.  I have to start eliminating STUFF, since I really want to move, and I really don't want to pay to move stuff I never wear/use.  So there you have it.  Now I have to go take some Benadryl, and a shower, and hermetically seal my bedroom off from these damn cats.

500 Calories in 47 Minutes!!

I've been slacking lately...not going to the gym as much as I should, watching too much TV...but today, I was back in the saddle.  Went after work, and my goal was to keep going until I hit 500 calories.  I was hoping to do it in 40 minutes, but it ended up taking 47.  Not terrible I guess.  It was more than 3 miles, and I hit a record speed of 5.5 mph at one point.  All in all, I'm making improvements.  The bigger accomplishment in my opinion was what I was able to do AFTER.  I dropped off my dry cleaning.  Came home, got the mail, went next door too feed my neighbors cat, came back to my house and did my own cats' litter boxes, emptied the dishwasher, reloaded it, wiped down the stove, swept the kitchen floor, did a load of laundry, took a shower, made some dinner and now I'm writing in my much neglected blog.

That might not seem like much to normal people, but for me...that is a LOT.  So maybe there is something to the whole "exercise gives you energy" theory.  I'll tell you one thing.  Knowing how long I have to run on that stupid elliptical machine to burn 500 calories really makes me think carefully about what I choose to eat.  So I guess that is also a positive side effect. 

I'm heading to Pittsburgh this weekend to see the Madeleine Albright Pin exhibit at the Carnegie with my mom, grandma, and my aunt.  I'm looking forward to it, because we don't get to do things like this all that often.  And I fully intend to turn my email off.  One thing is for sure, this year, when I am taking my personal vacation time, I am really going to be out of pocket.  I deserve that. 

I am also contemplating giving up pop (aka Soda in Philly, aka Coke-Cola in ATL) for Lent.  I don't always give something up, but in the spirit of getting healthier, it can't hurt to try.  My biggest fear honestly is the caffeine issue.  I drink PepsiMax, which has more caffeine per serving than a Mountain Dew.  Sheesh.  I could be in trouble on that account.

Finally, I bought some much needed new clothes this week.  Since I ordered them all online, I'm not sure how they will work out in the long run, but I'm looking forward to them.  If I am going to be all professional looking at work, I should invest i some classic pieces that I can mix and match.  Parker (my style guru) has advised me to avoid black and white (my previous go-to colors) in favor of brown and navy, and jewel tones, and some softer beiges, browns, and pinks.  I'm making an effort here!

So, that's all for me for now.  It's already nine pm, and I still need to change my sheets.... 

6500 Emails

6500+ Emails.  That is how many emails were in my inbox for work.  Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of the delete button.  My company uses Lotus Notes (I know, I know...) and mine has been acting up lately.  The IT guys updated my version, etc, but to no avail.  Today, it randomly started changing views on me.  I typically sort by date, with the most recent being at the top.  I would glance away, then look up, and it would be showing a string of emails from July 2011.  Totally crazy.  This happened like six times.  I called the IT guys who was baffled.  That's never a good thing.  In the course of conversation he suggested that maybe deleting some of those would at least increase the speed of the program.  Either way, I am probably in line for a new work laptop.

Also, I took Isla to the vet to be spayed yesterday but she has to weight at least 5 pound, which of course she doesn't.  So all in all this has been a great start to this week.  I did however go to the gym today, and my thirty minutes on the elliptical was noticeably easier this time around.  I think that is a good sign.  Tomorrow is another round with the trainer.  He sent me a list of things I should be doing on my own on the days we don't meet, but to be perfectly honest, I don't even know what half those things are.  I'm assuming they involve machines, but I think I'm going to have to google it.  Or break down and ask someone. 

In Jackie-related news, I am reading a new book about her, and what we can learn from her.  I'm not going to lie, I got about halfway through and was thinking, "Seriously?  She can't be THAT amazing!!"  What do I know.  I'm sitting on the floor in my living room watching the cats roll around in an empty whole foods bag, and hoping they don't try jumping on the ktichen counter and knocking over all the dirty dishes.  I am planning to take a class on Saturday to learn how to not kill orchids, so Saturday afternoon/evening becomes Jackie day.  And this time, I mean business.  That closet is going DOWN.

Downton Abbey Ruined My Weekend

I had big big plans to clean out my filing cabinet and organize my closet this weekend.  I did clean out the filing cabinet, but the rest of the weekend was a wash.  The cats were totally cute and snuggley, and I fell for it.  Then of course I was struck by a huge allergy attack, because only super geniuses adopt cats when they are allergic to cats.  I am SO smart.  Then, as if that wasn't enough, I started watching Downton Abbey on Netflix, and I couldn't stop.  Fan-freaking-tastic.

Tomorrow, I must get up early to take Isla to the vet to be spayed, and then I have to pick her up after work, so I don't think I will be able to get a workout in.  Which stresses me out a little, because it is easy for me to find reasons NOT to go.  I didn't go on Thursday because I had been there three days in a row and couldn't lift my leg.  I didn't go Friday because I had some stuff going on for work that I had to deal with.  I don't go on weekends, because...I just haven't. 

So my life was decidedly un-Jackie like this weekend.  But, tomorrow is another day.  I have big hopes for tomorrow.  I will pick up Isla, and then come home and cook dinner, and while dinner is in the oven, I will begin the closet project.

Onward!!
 

Going Into the Closet

In case you were wondering, the background image on this page is NOT my closet.  Yeah, I didn’t think you’d make that mistake either, but you never know.  Did you know that there are people out there (notice the use of the plural) who actually organize their closets not just by type of clothing, but also by COLOR?  My friend Angela does this, and so does her sister.  I always thought that they were just overachievers.  But now it has come to my attention that apparently, this is a common phenomenon.  I can’t even imagine what that must entail.  Most of the time, I’m lucky my clothes ever get folded, or make it back into the closet (see previous post regarding buried chair). 

I’ve always been a subscriber to the “you’re just lucky it’s on a hanger at all, why make it harder than it already is” school of closet organization.  Part of that is the result of growing up in a house that had no closets at all.  Tough to learn that skill, when your closet is 18” and has a sloped ceiling because it runs under the stairs.  Or later, when it’s a bar with no doors that spans a gaping hole in the attic (My dad is quite the carpenter, you see…).  I had a friend in high school that had your basic bi-fold door closet.  It had the racks and such, with shelves, high hanging areas, short hanging areas, and a space on the top shelf for shoes (In clear boxes…we’ll address that nonsense in another post).   She was a bit of a neat freak too, so again, it never occurred to me that this was normal.  My best friend also grew up in a house with serious closet issues, so what did I know?

Jackie’s closet was probably a thing of beauty.  She probably had her things divided up by type, color, fabric, maybe even designer (although she wasn’t above owning a knock-off).  Rows and rows of beautiful silk scarves, sweater sets, slacks…shoes, HATS.  Why did people stop wearing hats?  Men and women.  We should go back to that.  But I digress.  Back to Jackie’s closet, or more to the point, my closet.  Here it is, in all its glory:   

Before you go getting all up in my grill about how I have so many clothes, let’s get one thing clear.  A lot of these things don’t fit.  A lot of them are things that Parker (my style Guru) and many other friends have told me never to wear again (I’m thinking about you, navy golf shirt).  I am always afraid to donate clothes that don’t fit me under the pretense that if I lose weight, I won’t have to buy new things.  The reality is…some of those things have been in there waiting for…years.  I think it is time to take stock.  Considering that I am planning to move at the end of my lease (May), purging can only be a good thing.  Plus, if I get rid of all the stuff I don’t wear, two things will happen.  A) I will be able to organize my closet like Angela (and Jackie), and 2) I will be able to go on a shopping spree if this whole working out thing causes my body to change.   The only problem is…I have no idea HOW to go about this.  I seriously just googled “how to organize your closet”.  I need therapy.

"She"

I did not quite 3 miles today, a slower pace, but I went for 35 minutes total.  It was easier since I remembered to bring my iPod.  And by iPod I mean my iPhone with headphones.  You'd think that would be easy enough to remember, but apparently not.  I think it has something to do with the whole email on my phone thing.  I'm subconsciously trying to avoid the email.  Once I figured that out, I decided that I will revert to my old iPod for the gym, thus solving that problem. 

But, since I was rockin' out to some tunes, something else popped out at me.  I had the music on shuffle.  One of the songs that came on near the end of my 35 minutes was "She" by Green Day.  I have always loved that song, ever since the Dookie album came out.  And I know all the words.  But today, I really listened to them.  Man, I love it when my favorite songs turn out to be relevant to my everyday life. 

She...
She's figured out
All her doubts were someone else's point of view
Waking up this time
To smash the silence with the brick of self-control

SO TRUE!!  I can do whatever the hell I want to.  I've proven it over and over again, and yet failed to see it.  I left home and moved to Philadelphia.  That was hard.  Then, I left home and moved to Atlanta.  That was really hard.  I overcame a paralyzing fear of flying, to do the job I've wanted to do since college.  Yet none of those things really ever registered as major life accomplishments.  They were just things I had to do...but you know what?  Those were some pretty major decisions that I made, and I am going to take credit for them.  I took risks to get what I want.  I did hard things.  And I am still doing hard things.  I'm maybe not taking as many risks, but that will come.

Yay for self-awareness.  And that was a pretty good way to end the day, since the rest of it basically kicked my ass.  Jackie would probably not use the word "ass".  Look, I can't just transform overnight, ok?  Jeez, give a girl a break. 



13 Minute Mile

Today at the gym I did 1.5 miles on the elliptical machine.  The first mile took exactly 13 minutes.  I am actually kind of proud of that, because if I recall correctly, when I "ran" the mile in high school, it was around that same time.  So all things considered, that isn't too bad. 

In a related note, I love Greek yogurt all of a sudden.  Where has it been all my life? 

Short post today, but I have fun closet photos coming up soon!

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day.

One of my goals for this weekend was to fold the mountain of laundry that was on the chair in my living room. You may recall, it looked like this:

When I got up Saturday morning, my plan was: sort dirty laundry, start washing machine, begin to clean kitchen and rest of the house.  I jumped right in.  The chair now looks like this:

So, progress was made.  I also tackled the counter in my bathroom, the living room in general, the kitchen and my bedroom.  I'm not done, and I have to also begin to sift through and scale back in anticipation of moving in a few months, but this progress feels good.

In other news, my home is now shared with two kittens.  One is currently called Isla, and one is called Skinny Gene.  Skinny Gene has the cutest cross-eyes ever, and he is at least part Havana Brown.  Isla was rescued from under a dumpster near Stone Soup (for those of you who know where that is).  So far so good, they are playful and cute, and very low maintenance.  My allergies have not acted up so maybe this will work after all.  I will post pictures when I can get them to sit still long enough.

Tomorrow is my next workout.  I just have to keep reminding myself that Rome wasn't built in a day.  I didn't get this stunning physique overnight, so it will take some time to reshape it.  The immediate things are just as hard to tackle.  Keeping that chair cleaned off for instance.  Daily challenge.  I don't know why it's so hard for me.  It is easier in the long run to take 15 minutes a day to tidy up. 

I am struggling to find humor in this whole thing.  Humor is my safety zone.  I use my sense of humor to deflect, but I also just genuinely enjoy funny stuff.  So far, not much of this journey has been laughable.  But I am confident that it will eventually get a little easier to joke about it.

Jackie would NEVER go without a decent manicure, and rather than pay someone to do it for me, I am going to use the Super Bowl as time to do my own.  Trying something new..do-it-yourself gel polish that doesn't need to be cured under a UV lamp.  Wish me luck!  On the other hand, having this be an epic failure could lead to some really entertaining Edward Scissorhands jokes...

Ouch.

Pardon the delay in posting...I was having internet issues (that's code for I forgot to pay my bill).  Thursday night I had my first official work out with James, the trainer.  It seems that after you pay him, he goes from encouraging and understanding cheerleader to total maniacal fiend in two-point nine seconds.  The work out was hard, no doubt...sit ups, weight machines, wall-sitting with medicine balls, planks, push ups, the rest is actually a blur.  And just when I thought the worst was over, he says, "now let's go set up your cardio routine."  WHAT?  I can barely walk!  But to the elliptical machine we go.  "Thirty to forty-five minutes, mountain plus, intervals.  Keep the speed at 3.5 mph on the inclines, and 5 mph on the flats.  Go."  I made it ten, before I nearly collapsed in a pile and got tangled up in the machine itself.

I limped to the locker room, and grabbed my stuff, and made it to the car before I started to cry.  Not because it hurt (although it DID hurt...) but because for the first time, I really felt FAT. 

I was never super athletic.  I never ran a fast mile, I never could do a bunch of push ups, I never lifted weights or played sports.  Marching band kept me reasonably slim through high school, and after that I slowing packed on the pounds, a few a year, until I hit 25.  Then, it was more like 10 or 15 a year.  Anyway, my point is, A work out would always leave me out of breath, and shaky.  But I felt better after.  This time, I felt fat, and really really out of shape.  Maybe this is what they mean by "rock bottom".  As long as I've been gaining weight, I've never really made a serious effort to lose that weight.  Maybe a few times, I lost 10 pounds here or there, but it was always diet, not exercise.  It finally hit me that I've really let my body go downhill, and I saw myself the way strangers must see me.  But, the important thing is that I am doing something about it. 

In a little bit, I am going to post some truly tragic photos of my house as it was when I woke up this morning (and might I add I couldn't left my arm away from my side, since apparently James cause me to tear all the muscles in my shoulders to shreds...), and as it is now.  First I am expecting some visitors.  I'll update you all on those visitors later as...uh, oh!  They're here!