Summer at the Movies

As many of you know, I love going to the movies. LOVE IT! Although I try my hardest to be one of those pretentious film people, deep down I am a sucker for the blockbuster and there is no better time than summertime to feed my addiction. One of my favorite movies of 07 was Transformers. Need I say more? I am not sure if it had anything to do with the actual movie or Shia La Beouf, who is one of my Hollywood boyfriends. I know what you are thinking, he is like 20, call me a cougar, I don't care. Anyway, so far I thought this summer would prove to be a bust. Indiana Jones was good (Shia La Beouf) and of course Sex and the City was great, but nothing else really peeked my interest, except for Wanted, but I will get to that in a minute. 

So, a few days ago I was in the worst possible mood. My back was hurting and I was extremely moody. Of course I was taking all of my frustration out on Joshua, who has put up with me like a champ. Anyway, he informed that we were getting out of the house and he was taking me to see Wall-E. I wasn't sure how I felt about seeing it right then, I had visions of screaming children, which as many of you know I don't handle very well. OH MY GOD! It was seriously so good. I don't know how many of you have seen it, but all I have to say is: SEE IT! I think that I can put it on my favorite films list. It was that good. It is a really cute story that has an amazing message. Those of you who are really concerned about environmental issues and issues of the health of our society will really connect to this movie. It isn't preachy, which I also liked. I am in awe of the creative and talented people who work at Pixar. They consistently make great movies for all ages. I even found myself getting a little teary-eyed at some parts. That could just be moodiness that I was talking about earlier. After the movie was over, I was in a much better mood! 

Well, it is only the beginning of July, so there are two more months of summer blockbusters. I still really want to see Wanted. I will be honest with you, the only reason I want to see it is because of James McAvoy, who is my other Hollywood boyfriend. I also might find myself sitting through Hancock, only because of Jason Bateman, who I find to be hilarious. However, even if those movies are terrible and the rest of the movies this summer are less than desirable, Wall-E alone will have made this summer at the movies an enjoyable one for me.

We're in town from Sandy...

These are some photos from the gallery stroll. You couldn't bring cameras into the concert.

This past weekend was wonderful. I had such an amazing time both Friday and Saturday. The weekend encompassed some of my favorite things: Joshua, family, friends, art and live music. Friday I went to the gallery stroll with Chad, Mike, Jake and T.C.C. After a couple of adult beverages we went out on the town to see some art. Most of the art was not great, but the company was fantastic. Like always I wore the wrong shoes, which is especially bad because of my back problem. We ended the night by eating too much Thai food at Sawadee.

Saturday night I took Joshua to the Ani DiFranco concert at Library Square. It was so much fun. We went with Jerilyn and Chris, but we also ran into Chamonix. So, once again fabulous company. I think it might have been a different environment for Joshua, but I think all in all he had a good time. I am happy that he is open to new people and new experiences. It means so much to me! 

Week Three

Well, I have just completed my third week of the diet. I didn't get a chance to blog about my previous week, sorry. So, week two was not as good as my first week. I found myself eating off the diet plan more than once, but I still managed to lose one pound-yay! This past week I had a few celebrations that I had to go to and well, I probably didn't make the best eating choices. However, brunch on Sunday at Silverfork lodge with Joshua was worth it! It was a beautiful day and Big Cottonwood Canyon was gorgeous. We had a wonderful time and the food was great. Anyway, the rest of the week I worked really hard, oh wait there was that training at work and the owners bought us pizza. Ok, so other than that I worked hard this week. Well, I made my weekly journey to the scale this morning and I discovered that I was down one pound and a half. So, I feel great! So far I have lost a total of six and a half pounds. It might not be the rapid weight loss I was hoping for, but I am really happy with my results. 

The plan for this week: tonight I am gallery strolling with Mike, Jake and Chad, which is always an interesting time. I will probably use my cheat meal tonight. I know, I know it sounds as if I have had more than one cheat meal per week and I have, but I am really going to try to stick to the plan. Other than tonight, I don't really have any other eating excursions planned. 

I do have an amazing story to tell all of you, which has given me new motivation to live a healthy, happy lifestyle. I had a client come into me yesterday, she was a breast cancer survivor and had just finished her last round of chemotherapy. She came in to celebrate and give herself a little papering. I could tell that she felt a little self-conscience and she even told me not to be scared of her bald head, of course I wasn't.  I made sure that I gave her a fabulous treatment. At the end of the facial, she said to me as tears came into her eyes, that the facial was the best she had ever had and that she hadn't felt that good in months. Not only did I make her day, she made my day as well! So I want all of you to be aware that even small things can really make an impact. Really in the end, yes I want to be healthy, I can be a size four, but if I am not living a life full of joy, it doesn't matter.

Fascinating...

DISCLAIMER: I know that I have friends and family from all backgrounds. I don't want to offend anyone, but I just found this interesting.

So, this morning I was listening to Radio From Hell and they had a woman on their "ask a" segment who had been excommunicated from the LDS church for getting angry about women's rights, or lack of, within the church. They opened up the lines for callers and a woman called in and starting talking about "mormon feminist" blogs, particularly something called bloggernacle. I had never heard of this, I am new to the blogging world. So, I decided to check it out. I went to bloggernacle, which sent me to this site called ldsblogs.org. On this site were hundreds of different blogs that dealt with many issues facing mormons all over the world. So, I began to read through some of these blogs. Some of my favorites: celibate in the city-about a mormon girl living in NYC. She recently found out that she is bipolar(insert celibacy joke here). Tales from the Crib-about a group of mothers, who first met while living in Queens, who are now trying to figure out mother"hood." There was also Mormon Mommy Wars, which was very similar. Feminist Mormon Housewives, which I think is the blog that the caller from the radio writes for, was about issues facing mormon housewives. I found some of the blogs on this site really interesting. Many of these women are dealing with issues within their relationships and marriages that most of us will never understand. I actually thought that it was a good place for LDS women to write and comment on their thoughts and feelings. There were some posts that I found a little sad. One question however, there is not a right or wrong answer, can you truly call yourself a feminist if a. you are pro-life and you think that women who are pro-choice are evil and completely beneath you and b. you still believe that your husband holds some sort of authority over you? Just something to think about. 

Reading through some of these blogs I found other issues facing mormons quite interesting. I couldn't believe all of the "closeted" liberal mormons out there. Some of these people were afraid to tell members of their own family that they were Democrats. They were afraid of disappointing their parents, spouses, etc. I could not believe it! There was a funny story about a guy who had an Obama sign in his front yard and he got called into his bishop to make sure that his "values" were still intact. Another man kept having his Obama signs stolen from his front yard. He put up a poll to see how long his new sign would last. 

Many posts on some of these blogs dealt with issues of equality. For example, a woman posted that she just came to the realization that non-mormons were her equals. She could not believe that she had gone most of her life believing that people of other faiths were below her. Other people were struggling to find the "good" in non-mormons. There were other people who were having a hard time with their testimony because they were not sure that the mormon church is the true church and believe that all religions hold equal value.

Like I said in the disclaimer I didn't post this to offend anyone. I just found many of these blogs interesting and I encourage my mormon and non-mormon friends to take a look at them.

Shot Through the Back...

my doctor is to blame, oh man does he give love a bad name. I had my steroid injection yesterday. It was supposed to be last Wednesday, but due to some confusion they had me do it yesterday. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be. I was extremely nervous and tense. The needle that they shoved into my back was enormous. So, I am laying down on my stomach and they have to put the needle in my very low back area, basically I was mooning the entire room. It was awesome. After the shot, I felt a little weak but my back did feel a little better. I guess it takes the steroids a few days to completely start to work. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my roid rage to a minimum. Keep your fingers crossed that this works. I don't really feel like going under the knife.

One Week Down...

Well, I have just completed my first week on Medifast. I woke up this morning eagerly anticipating my journey to the scale. I was nervous. I kept thinking: did the Sex and the City cocktail party destroy my chances to get into a size 6? Did that Paradise Bakery cookie that I snuck the other day ruin an otherwise good week of self control? As I stepped onto the scale, I looked at the scale and...I was down 4lbs-WHAAAAAAT! I was pretty excited! I looked at myself in mirror. Did I look different? No, not really, but I felt great.

So let me tell you about my first week of eating the Medifast delights. My favorite food on the diet plan is the oatmeal raisin bar. There are not any raisins in the bar and it doesn't taste like raisins, so I wonder where they came up with the raisin aspect of the bar. The other bars are also quite good. They remind me of Luna bars. My next favorite food is probably the shakes. They come in several flavors. The vanilla and chocolate are the best. The orange isn't bad, but the strawberry and banana are YUCK! I had to plug my nose and chug them, then I had to fight off the gag reflex. After the shakes, I like the oatmeal. The texture is a little weird, but they taste pretty good. My least favorite items are the soups and the eggs. Besides the chicken noodle soup, which is actually not bad, the soups are not great. They come in powder form and when you add the water, it doesn't mix very well. So, what you end up with is a chunky, watery mess. Now, I haven't tried all of the different flavors of soup, so I am hoping that the ones I haven't tried are better. The absolute worst thing on the diet plan are the eggs. Call me crazy, but there is something about powered eggs that just doesn't sit well with me. You put the powder egg substance into a bowl, add water then microwave. What comes out you ask? A yellow, slimy goo ball. I had to douse it with salsa and pepper in order to get it down. However, if I can lose another 4lbs this week, I will eat the goo ball. My favorite part of the diet is the one normal meal that I can per day. Are you surprised by that one? It has to be a healthy conscience meal, but I always look forward to it.

I am looking forward to another successful week. I don't have many obstacles in my way, except the BBQ with the KKG Gamers tonight. However, I am allowing myself one cheat meal per week. I mean, I have to be realistic. 

Better than Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha

I just wanted to say that I am so lucky to have the best friends in the world! During this time of "change" in my life, they have all been very supportive. First, Chamonix and Morris came over to my house with meals on wheels. It made my entire weekend! Then, my wonderful friend Katherine, who lives in L.A., has called several times to cheer me up. We have had some of the best conversations, most of which revolve around our upcoming weddings. Also, my cute friend Kristi, who lives in NYC, has called to check up on me and sent me the sweetest card-it made me cry a little. Lately, I have been really emotional. Then this past weekend, my fabulous friend Mary came with me to a Sex and the City cocktail party and to the movie. It was great to catch up with her! I am excited to reunite with the KKG Gamers this Friday night all of whom said that they would help me bowl. I want to thank all of my other friends for their calls and emails they have meant a lot to me! What we would do without friends?

Maybe Jake needs Medifast too!

This is Jake. He is my family's ten month  old Golden Retriever. He seems to suffer from the same problem that I do. He will eat anything that comes into his path, without any regard for carbs, calories, sugar and fat content. His new indulgence: my dad's BlackBerry. Jake usually goes for cell phones, towels and remote controls, but lately it is the BlackBerry that really satisfies his cravings. After, killing my dad's he went after my cousin's. Have some control! Anyway, I guess both me and Jake really need to think about our diet choices. Except unlike me he doesn't seem to gain any weight-jerk.

Bed Rest Made Me Do It

Well, I am starting a blog, something that I didn't think I would ever do.  But, as many of you know I have a lot of time on my hands.  I just found out last week that I have a bulging disc and I have been put on bed rest until June 4, when I will receive a steroid shot in my back. Doesn't that sound fun? There is also a large chance that I might have to have surgery.  So, I thought that starting a blog would be much more productive than catching up on all of the ABC soaps, as much as I love General Hospital, and the never-ending wedding shows on WE and Style. 

I also have another reason for starting a blog.  I am going on a diet. I feel absolutely gross. I am unable to exercise because of my back and I have been making horrible eating choices. Because of this and other stresses in my life I am starting to feel really depressed. I have gone through depression before and I have decided that this time I am not going to let it get the best of me. I am going to take total control. This should be that happiest time of my life-I am planning a wedding and getting ready to spend the rest of my life with the person who can always put a smile on my face. So, after days of online research I have found a diet that I think will work for me. Normally, I would choose a diet that was more like a fitness plan, but since I can't really work out, I needed something that would cut calories. I have chosen Medifast-yes, laugh. I can't lie, it is pretty drastic. I have to drink these "special" shakes and eat these "delicious" bars. I also eat "eggs" and "oatmeal." I put these in scare quotes because these wonderous edible delights come to me in pre-packaged form.  Last night, I promptly ordered my first five weeks of "food." I am now eagerly awaiting my shipment which should be here in 5-7 business days.

I thought that if I blogged about my experience for all of my family and friends to read, this would give me extra motivation to succeed. Don't worry, I will also blog about other happenings in my life and the lives of others. Wish me luck and bear with me as I get used to this blogging thing.