Rule of 25

On my 25th birthday, my dear friend and fellow blogger, A, made a goal for me to have my “magic number” reach 25 in my 25th year. 

Today is A’s 24th birthday.  I know, she’s a baby.  But I’ll throw out there that this year’s birthday goal should be to lose 25 pounds before her 25th year.  And as a show of cameraderie, I’ll have the same goal 🙂

So, happy birthday A!  I look forward to work on both of our birthday goals 😉

xoxo,

V

don't need candles or cake, just need your body to make... birthday sex. it's the best day of the year.

Plow

I started doing yoga this winter.  I was probably one of the least flexible people out there.  I also had terrible balance.  Oh, and I like doing things that have clear goals, metrics and outcomes.  So pretty much I figured the whole yoga thing was going nowhere, very quickly.

But, it turns out I love it.  I’m still terrible at it, but it’s a journey that I’m enjoying. In one of my places, the instructor always talks about our own practice.  As in, I’m supposed to be doing yoga at home, on my own. The thing is, I really only like to practice poses that a) I suck at, b) I think looks cool, or c) I feel like will improve my bedroom abilities.

One pose that falls under all three of these criteria is plow.  When I started, I couldn’t do shoulder stand.  I’m finally getting so I can pretty consistently get into that, and now, for two days in a row, I’ve been able to get into plow

Who doesn't want to plow in plow?

.  Hell yes.

So if I ever find myself a wrestling coach, like Samantha did in Sex and the City, I’ll be ready.

xoxo,
V

There’s an I in WIN. And an I in FAIL.

sexxxxxy time after the 13.1 mile death march

This spring, I must have been wasted or something, but I decided to do a half marathon, by myself.  The training started out fine, but when it came to the long runs, I just found other things to be doing.  I mean, my schedule had them on Saturdays.  If I’m not hungover, I’m pretty sure that I have better things to do on a Saturday afternoon, like go out to lunch or go shopping or go to the lake or go on a trip or reorganize my pictures or do laundry or paint my nails.  Duh.

Anyway, the race comes, and not surprisingly, I start getting tired around mile 7 (shockingly, I only ran 7 miles in training, oops).  The first half of the course is a loop and the second half of the course is an out and back.  So at about mile 8 of 13.1, I think, hmm, maybe I’ll just turn around?  Skip a mile?  This whole running thing is getting kind of old.  Why not?  Who cares?  Nothing is on the line here….  

Except that the only reason I decided to run this damn race is that I wanted to just prove to myself that I could do it.  I set out to accomplish something, and I wanted to accomplish it.  If I quit, it was on me.  If I succeeded, it was me.  At that point, it didn’t matter how smart or fun or cute or witty or skinny I was; it just mattered if I had the fortitude to fight for myself.  So I mean, I just kept running.   

I’ve always been a goal setter.  If I don’t have a vision in sight, it’s hard for me to charge forward.  In the past, my goals were always lofty but attainable.  But more importantly, they were finite.

I want to get all A’s.  Ok, well, I got all A’s and an a couple of A-.  Fine, I gave it my best.  I want to letter in this sport.  Ok, done.  I want to get into this college.  Ok, this one I did, this one I didn’t.  I want to win student body president.  Check.  I want to bag that hottie.  Done and done.  And done again, but whose counting?

What about, I want a great boyfriend?  I want a great job?  Great friend?  Great family?  I want to be skinny?  **crickets**

Oh, I have to work for it, then MAINTAIN it?  For that man, I have to seduce him.  Then we have to always work on our relationship?  My future husband and I will be working towards a great marriage til one of us dies?  To be skinny, I have to adapt a healthy lifestyle?  Hmm, that sounds harder than running 5 days a week for 3 months.

The thing about growing up is our goals grow up too.  We’re able to take in more and take on more.  I have fantastic memories of occassions and incidents, but I’m guessing the rewards ultimately come from those things that take time and nurturing and dedication.

Those wise ones who make up inspirational quotes say that Success is  Journey, not a Destination.  Well in this case, being successful is being healthy and happy and the best me I can be.  Hot damn.  That sounds great if I can do it.  So let’s not even think about the flip side of it. 

So here we launch into my own little Eat, Pray, Love journey.  Luckily I have my lovely A to go through it with me, the blogosphere to hold me accountable, and some great self-imposed incentives for when I reach milestones.

I can’t say that I won’t want to cut the corner on the next Half (October 30), but hopefully I’ll have been able to pass up the 2nd bread basket or the unecessary brownie, so my mental toughness and confidence in pursuing the ambigious life goals will be that much stronger 😉

xoxo,

V