Change

I just got back from Cleveland and had an AMAZING time.  Who knew, Cleveland?  The people were midwestern friendly but also midwestern trait I can't quite describe, but reminded me of home in Chicago..sorta like the sports guys, Da! Bearssss. Only Cleveland syle.  I'm saying, I liked Cleveland. 

A lot. 

You know the first thing I did when we drove into the city?  I had to download "Cleveland Rocks" from itunes and pretend I was Drew Carey.  Yes I did.

Then I talked to my hubs and one of the first things he asked me is if I ran down the street singing "Cleveland Rocks"  Before I even told him I downloaded it.  It's like we're soul mates or something.

The real reason I went was for a business conference.  It was so spectacular I can't even describe it well enough to do it justice.  A business meeting!  In Cleveland!  Who'da thunk it?

The keynote speaker was Andy Andrews.  The man made me happy.  Made me think and get motivated and ready to conquer the world.  Please for the love of all that's good and glorious in the world, go out and read his book "The Traveler's Gift."  Best book I've ever read.

Read it..tell me what you think! 

He tried to get the book published and was turned down 52 times.  In his speech he talked about it, and said at first he had crazy voices in his head:

Maybe this is God's way of saying this isn't for you!

And then he screamed out NO!  and ran across the stage and said

If He puts a dream in your heart, it's up to YOU to overcome obstacles and make it work!

And then he ran out into the audience and back up on stage and back down.  He was very animated. Can you imagine such a thing?  Getting knocked down 52 times and keeping at it and keeping at it.  And keeping at it and keeping at it.  People have a threshold and it seems like sometimes people get up the gumption to try something,something that will change their lives for the better, get shot down and quit.  But 52 times of getting shot down and getting back up, and the result?  A best seller. 

Incredible.  Inspiring! 

Here's the thing.  The man got through to me like nothing ever has before.  The book, the presentation..it opened my mind and made me believe, gave me faith, hope..in ME. 

You've got to read his book!

I came back to the reality of my day job and it's a drastic difference..after being around such positivity all weekend and coming back and it's almost like sitting under a rain cloud.  Only the rain cloud is above everyone else, the sun is shining on me.  Cheesy indeed but true!

I just realized, I don't have to be average, I don't have to accept mediocrity.  I had a wall built all around me and I couldn't even see over it.  In every little aspect of life..health, job, weight, relationships.  And one weekend karate chopped hi-ya! my way right out of it.

The world better watch out is all I'm saying.

1 and 2 and 3 and 4, c'mon let's do some more!

It's Wednesday already, can you believe how time flies these days?

On Monday I had intended on waking up before the sun, against my better judgement, to make the 30 minute drive to the beach to meditate at sunrise.

AAahahahahahaaaaaaaa.  Hahaha. teeheeha. ha.

Ha.

When I was still up at 3am I realized I would not be waking in an hour to see the sunrise on the beach.  And meditation?  No ma'am.  I was in lala land.

I finally got to a point where I am craving a good, sweat inducing, kick my butt workout.  Ok, I failed at P90X, I think I made it a week.  I lost my Brazil Butt Lift dvd soon after buying it, and dang it too because I was really wanting a Brazilian Booty.  I need to find that..I have a bad habit of taking out a dvd from the player and putting it in random other cases.  I know, tsk tsk.  I get annoyed with myself for doing it. 

I read a lot of tips about getting in shape and healthy and a good majority say it's best to tell someone, be accountable to a friend.  I find I do best by just doing it and not telling anyone.

So I'm not telling you, K?

I am a damn sucker for infomercials and confess to a whole library of workout dvds.  I ought to have quite enough by now, thank you, but I find myself needing 2 more.  Workout dvds, as with books, alls I need is to hear one person rave and I quite impulsively buy it within the next 24 hours.  I try to compose myself, use self control, and somehow will obsess about the dvd or book until it's in my possession.  2 raves I've heard lately, Jilian Michael's 30 day shred - you had me at 20 minutes. 

And Tracy Anderson..has anyone been doing her workouts?  Her routines seem so unique and fresh and new and exciting that it's my current obsession.  But I've held it in a lot longer than 24 hours.  I'm practicing self control for the moment. 

Because, you know, I need to have some serious control to get on the weight loss train to skinnyville.

Here's a little sample of one of her workouts:

Here is her website.

Ooh I want.  I think it will be an "I lost 20 pounds" reward for myself.

That's all.

I'm headed to Cleveland tomorrow!  Holla!  See you next week!

Get to know you Sunday!

Happy Father's Day!

I'm linking up to MannLand5 today, Get to know you Sunday!  Link up so I can get to know you!

1. While at the beach, pool, etc..Do you cover up your assets or show them off?

Considering my assets these days are more liabilities..I cover them up like Watergate.  But once I turn around and get them assets back, I will show them off, yeeeeaaah!

2. Road trips or Plane trips?

Gotta say both!  If it's about the journey, road trips.  If it's about the destination, plane trips.

3. I can't stand it when...?

People spread their grumpiness.  Dude, if you are grumpy or bitter about life, don't try to bring the rest of us down with you.  Be happy damn it!

4. Have you ever gone topless at the beach?

Nope..never had the nerve, and then of course the liability part took over.  So it's settled.  I will gain my assets back, celebrate with a trip to Spain, and visit a topless beach.  And prolly giggle. teehee

5. How many blog carnivals do you do a week?

Ehm..what is a carnival?  Is this a carnival, this survey?  If so once a week, or every other week.  If this isn't a carnival, then I would have to say.....never.

6. My favorite thing about the weekend is...?

I work weekends usually, I like my "weekend" to be Mondays and Tuesdays usually, because everyone else is at work, I can do whatever I please such as go to the movies or the beach and there won't be a crowd.

7. Pancakes or waffles?

A waffle is just a pancake with a syrup trap.  (Mitch Hedberg) 

 

8. Water Park or Amusement Park?

WATER!  It used to be amusement but I am not a spinny kinda ride person these days.  More of a lazy river type a gal.

This is in Bali.  I will have to go there after Spain, when I get my assets back.

 

Happy Sunday to you, hope everyone has a nice Father's Day...Sorry Pops that I am not there to make you pancakes with syrup traps!

Meditation

Life has been rather random lately and I've had trouble composing my thoughts.  Sometimes I wish I was a meditator because then I would have balance and serenity.  I mean, I'm sure I could discipline myself to meditate but who has time for discipline these days, I wonder to myself sometimes.

Doesn't that look lovely?  I want to sit on some rocks on a beach at sunset and zen out.  But the beach is, you know, like a whole 30 minute drive from my house.  And there's things to do at my house.  But maybe I ought to make more time for sitting indian style and ommmmm ommmmmmmmmmmmmm ommm on the beach at sunset. 

Is it PC these days to say "indian style" ??  I haven't said it since kindergarten.

Oh snark.  I just had a disturbing thought while looking at that photo. 

At first I was thinking, you know, answering myself..

"(Self), that really is lovely.  I could really get used to such a thing.  I wish I lived on the beach and could walk out my door and be right there.  And look there's no people.  I wonder if I could put in some kind of order, please, no annoying people on the beach when I'm trying to meditate.  I mean no people at all would be nice but how do you find such a beach where no one at all goes?  So I'll just order beach time, no annoying people, yeah.  That really is pleasant.  Nice sunset..Wait a tic.."

"What if it's not sunset?  What if it's...gasp...sunrise?"

Oh no.  No no.  I'm not quite so sure about this meditation business.  I have to rise before the sun? 

Here's the thing.  If the sun is not ready to be up, I'm not ready to be up.  I know sometimes it can be really peaceful, being up and out in the world while most people are snuggled in their beds.  But if I'm going to wake that early,  I know for quite certain that around 2pm I will being taking a nap.

Check out this photo.  Again, sunrise?  or sunset?  I really need to know this.  And furthermore, is that a real person and if so how long have they been on that rock?  Are their legs wet because it appears they had to walk in a bit of water to get to it.  And the water around it is nice and calm so they must have been there for a while.  But it does look peaceful.

I need more info on this meditation.  Maybe one day, when I'm off, I will rise before the sun, haul my happy hiney to the beach, find a rock, sit said happy hiney on it and practice.

Only I hope there's no annoying people there.

Guinness Sheperd's Pie

This year was my 10 year reunion from college.  I don't even want to get into the "what the hell happeneds", instead I'm going to remember what once was.  And the best part, always times with friends.  When we were too young for bars, we'd drive out to orange groves and have a plastic cuppa beer.  Yeah. Right?  Good times good times.  Or we'd head out to Ybor city (College was in Tampa) and go to an 18 and over club.  Or of course just hang out on campus in someone's dorm room.  Then towards the end of college, someone discovered this little gem:

Four Green Fields!  See how tiny it is?  See the thatched roof?  That is the only authentic thatched roof Irish pub in America!  So charming, and they had live Irish music and sing-a-longs.. Like Alice!  I've never heard the song outside this place.  Seriously, favorite drinking song ever!  I don't remember the words, but the singer will sing a verse which ends with "...Living next door..to Alice!"  And then the bar yells out -- Alice!?  Who the f- is Alice?

And then he'd sing the next verse.  Haahaaaaaaa.  I mean really.  These are the memories.

So that place - Four Green Fields.. Apart from having fun drinking music, they had the best durn Guinness Sheperd's Pie ever.  I've tried and I've tried to find it at other Irish Pubs around the country, I've tried to come up with a recipe myself, Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail!!

Until....!

I discovered this wonderful world of blogging!  And then I discovered The Hungry Housewife!  She's from Tampa, and, and! had a recipe for Guinness Shepard's Pie.  What whaaaaaaaat!  Holla!

Finally I got around to making it and let me just holla! again because this is as close as I've come to the real thing.  And honestly, I think the only reason it didn't taste exactly the same, I used ground chicken to lighten it up a little.  The Guinness gravy was to die for, I'll be making this dish again and again and again!

Some pictures:

First, make you some mashed potatoes.  I used casual and light mixed vegetables..don't even get me started on those formal vegetables people use these days! 

Brown some meat and add your Guinness..yummmm!  The meat will cook in the Guinness, but the beautimous part is, you are also making a second separate Guinness gravy!  Can I get a hell yeah?

Then you add the gravy to the meat, cook it up, and layer it in a pan.  Meat, then casual veggies...

And the final touch, which I would apply with more gusto on another day but not when I'm trying to keep it light, give her some cheese on top of the potatoes!

Bake it.  And then....open up your mouth and feed it.  Eat it, eat it! 

You can find the full recipe HERE. 

Stand By..

I've been having some technical issues the past 2 weeks.  And by technical issues I mean life and it's problems, specifically speaking.  I'm not wallowing, screaming at strangers, or eating buckets of ice cream.  The potential is there mind you, but I will overcome!  After all, life happens to everyone, no?  What it has done is suck my creative juices right straight out of my skull.

And therefore I have not been a blogging fool lately.

Bare with me good people.  I shall return very soon.  In chipper spirits.  Or at least not downtrodden.

Jus' hang loose blooood. She goonna catch up on the`rebound a de medcide.

What it is big mamma, my mamma didn't raise no dummy, I dug her rap.

Cut me som' slac' jak! Chump don wan no help, chump don git no help. Jive ass dude don got no brains anyhow.

Talking Southern

SURCEE!

A term generally used for a small, unexpected gift.

I was super good today as far as eating.  Last night I ate light and went for a run and felt awesome.  I was hungry when I woke up but I loved the feeling..like yeah!  You didn't stuff yourself silly last night, way to go! Today, by 3:30pm I had only eaten 9.5 points, breakfast was a 1 point WW yogurt and 2 pieces of raisin toast (3 points).  Then lunch was lots of veggies and fruit.  Strawberries and a 0 point jello for dessert.  I decided, I deserved a surcee!

I didn't know what a surcee was until I was enjoying it, see.  I'm not a natural born Southern gal, but all I did know is surcee is a fun word to say.  Try it.

Surcee! 

A word that must be said with the exclamation point for sure.

So I had myself a little piece of a brownie and a non fat caramel macchiato.  Surcee indeed, and it was soo worth it.

Google and I being casual aquaintances, I refered back to find out what the true meaning was.  Here's what I found:

Having grown up in the Carolinas in the southern United States, the term "surcee" is one that I have heard for years. It is generally used by ladies who you mentally associate with white gloves, iced tea, azaleas, and a quiet, genteel nature - southern belles, if you would. People though they may drive Volvos and use cellphones are like living anachronisms, bastions of the Old South in a modern world.

Surcee is not a word that people usually write down and if it is written down, the spelling varies greatly. Circe, sursee, or surcy are often common spellings of the word. The origin of the word has been traced back to the the Irish word "sussie which means "to care" or "to bother oneself." That word is thought to have its origin in the French word "souci" which means "care" or "trouble."

Surcees generally come in all shapes and sizes. From bag of home-made cookies to a small book, the form does not seem to matter much. What makes the surcee special is that it means that giver spent time and energy thinking about the recipient and made the effort to do something for them. In an age where we are more and more driven to look after ourselves and time is a precious commodity, the surcee though a small thing can have a great impact on the lives of others.  Source

Southern belle?  Moi?  Nahhhh!  HAhasnortHa!

But I still like the word.