chimesblog

yeah yeah. I came across my New Year 2011 post and had to do the same.

Oh, and give you an update on what happened last year.

What I (was) looking forward to in 2011.

1. Chicago Bears in the playoffs / This didn’t turn out well for them. They played the Packers for the NFC Championship game, and well, we all know how that turned out. No Bears in the playoffs in 2012.  
2. Being in one of my best girlfriend’s weddings / One of the most gratifying experiences of my life. I got to witness two of my good friends who are fabulous together say their vows. 
3. Maybe moving somewhere new (in Ames) with a new roommate (or two) — hopefully somewhere with a garage. / Worst moving experience ever. Just read about it. Seriously. 
4. Taking a new exercise class — I’m thinking kickboxing or yoga / No kickboxing or yoga for me, but I did attend a couple BodyPump classes and MAN those are amazing. 
5. Finishing some of my WIP projects / Let’s not talk about this one. But seriously. I did recently finish off a WIP that had been sitting around for more than 2 years. It’s scheduled for the blog on FRIDAY the 6th. 
6. Some new music (Iron and Wine and Decemberists are up first in January) / I got a ton of new music this year. I didn’t get Iron and Wine. I got Kanye West (yeahhhhh), Ke$ha (yeah), LMFAO (I know), The Drums, Jeremy Messersmith, Megadeth and a lot of others.
7. Getting a new haircut or two or three or ten. Maybe completely different colors? / I got a major haircut in June and have been growing it out since. I let it be my natural color for a while after a stripping incident in March. Then I recently colored it dark red-brown again. It was uneventful so I didn’t blog about it.
8. Learning to do some Michael Jackson moves on the Michael Jackson Experience game on the Wii (guess who got that for me for Christmas?) / I do not have any evidence of this happening, but Kelly can attest to our 5-star performance on the “inhuman” level of Thriller.
9. AN AMAZING STAYCATION. Taking a week off in March and I’m going to spend it organizing, chilling and working out. / Amazing staycation turned into moving my stuff from the crap house I was at into Mark’s and Matt’s apartment (THANK YOU AGAIN).
10. Filing my taxes. Yes. I am excited to file them really early so I can get my refund really early. / I did, and I’m looking forward to doing this again. 

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I’m posting this on Christmas Eve because I’m trying to remind myself not to overindulgeor overdo it this weekend or next. I tend to overindulge and then try to work my butt off to make up for it. That doesn’t work. Years of my crap eating and thinking are finally catching up to me.

Remember that time a few weeks back that I posted about starting this badass workout routine? This one that promised that I’d get super ripped and awesome?

I’ve gained a pound. I took their suggested days off (it’s written for beginners to fitness) and I spent the first week eating way more than normal because my brain hadn’t got the memo that I’m building muscle and trying to shed fat. This week I took MY days off (ie. 1 day) and on the off days from this program I’ve been running or doing some other cardio activity since we haven’t hit the cardio portion of this program yet.

It’s a 16 week program and I’m on week 3. I’m not seeing the results I want, and I think it’s because I’ve been ignoring their diet plan. I pretty much do their diet plan anyway, except I have a sugar problem. It’s like crack. And this time of year is even worse.

And I quit doing cardio because it doesn’t prescribe it. I need to add this back in — even if it’s 30 minutes easy after lifting. It’s better than nothing and will get my muscles loosened back up.

Also, I have a bad habit of eating super late. For instance: It’s almost 8 PM (yes I wrote this on the 20th and scheduled it ahead for Saturday) and I haven’t had dinner. Whoops.

That being said, the purpose of this post is to remind myself that my stomach isn’t a garbage can. This is important. I need to go back to being a food snob. If it’s not incredible, do not eat it. And I need to remember that, for now, since I’m trying to mold my body a certain way, food is fuel. Which really, that’s what it should be anyway.

However, I will have a few treats. Just not the mountains of peanut clusters (sorry mom) I normally have.

Also? I promised I wouldn’t blog about this here. So since I broke that promise, I’ll give you all my 3 week progress photos. I will tell you that they don’t look any different than when I started. I swear. The highlight of this? One: Tuesdays and Thursdays I lift when the wrestling team does AAAAND I have moved past the girlie weights to the men’s weights (the free dumbells — the girlie ones max out at 20 lbs).

And for those of you who haven’t realized I have no filter, yes these are polka dot underwear. I could have put on a bikini, but it actually covers LESS so I kept my underwear on. I did cut out my face in case these get distributed on the internets. I don’t have to own up to them.

[okay, i lied. my arms are much more awesome than ever]

Also … I noticed that my right side of my abs is FAR fitter than my left side. I wonder why that is and if it has to do with the fact that I have a somewhat bum leg on my left side? Either way, this is noted and I’m going to try to work on that.

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I’m not going to do a year in review like so many other people have done. Instead, I’ll tell you what I’m looking forward to in 2011.

1. Chicago Bears in the playoffs
2. Being in one of my best girlfriend’s weddings
3. Maybe moving somewhere new (in Ames) with a new roommate (or two) — hopefully somewhere with a garage.
4. Taking a new exercise class — I’m thinking kickboxing or yoga
5. Finishing some of my WIP projects
6. Some new music (Iron and Wine and Decemberists are up first in January)
7. Getting a new haircut or two or three or ten. Maybe completely different colors?
8. Learning to do some Michael Jackson moves on the Michael Jackson Experience game on the Wii (guess who got that for me for Christmas?)
9. AN AMAZING STAYCATION. Taking a week off in March and I’m going to spend it organizing, chilling and working out.
10. Filing my taxes. Yes. I am excited to file them really early so I can get my refund really early.

That’s about it for now. I’m sure that 2011 will bring all sorts of new and exciting things.

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Okay, I’m entirely too lazy to recap my entire year, but it was a hell of a ride.

Let’s see here … highlights and lowlights and headlights? How about a bit of everything. Scatterbrained style. Cuz that’s how I roll.

In January I chopped all my hair off.  I continued to do so and experiment with hairstyles all year. I went from long and blonde to short and dark in less than a year after having the same hair for almost 15 years.

So in March I finally gave in and decided to quit running on the injury I incurred while training for and running the 2008 Des Moines Marathon.  I was planning to run a half marathon in April, but those plans ultimately were put on hold. I spent 6 months in physical therapy but it was worth it. I’m back and running faster than ever. I went from an average of a 10-minute mile to an 8-8:30-minute mile.

Umm … Oh, yeah, so since I had a bunch of time on my hands that I used to spend running I started crafting. a LOT.  I actually ended up doing a bunch of craft shows and making somewhat of a killing off my newfound crafty business.  I discovered quilting.  I also discovered I’m a fabricaholic.

In June I went to Chicago with my girlies and saw the city as an adult (I haven’t been since I was like 18 and young and dumb — but hey, it was fun, right Kim?).  Anyway, we celebrated my friend’s (now defunct) engagement, ate some chicago style pizza, visited cake girls, went to both Wrigley and Soldier field … and had a grand old time.

Oh yeah, in April I had a brief stint of being a Mary Kay consultant. Not a great idea.  But I got a lot of cheap makeup out of it, so hey.  Most of all, I was able to use my short-lived business to raise money for my friend Lindsay’s mom who had just been diagnosed with cancer.  So not all was lost.

Summer was kind of a blur. It was hot and fast, like most summers.  I spent a lot of time crafting and hanging out by myself while I watched the deterioration of my nearly-4-year relationship.  Finally at the end of the summer I decided it was time to call it quits with Kasey. Rather, I suggested it, he agreed, then I began to freak out.  I spent the next few months wondering aimlessly trying to remember who I was before he came along. I eventually found myself.  With a LOT of help from friends and family.  I couldn’t have done it without you and I love you all for it.

Along with finding myself, I found a couple of new loves.  First, on my birthday (25th in case you were wondering) my mom bought me my fabulous doggie, Barney.  We adopted him from the humane society. He’s a miniature long-haired doxie.  Adorable and sweet. We fell in love with him instantly.  I can’t have dogs where I live now, but I’m moving in June and my parents are fostering him right now, so all is well with the world.

And, of course, I couldn’t complete this blog without mentioning the most exciting and best development of 2009 (of course, that is, besides me realizing that I’m awesome and worthy of this awesome new development): Mark.  Mark is my new squeeze, but he’s been one of my best friends for the past 3 or so years.  He’s been there for me through all the rough times, all the fun times and pretty much whenever we needed each other the other one was always there to lean on.  I had no idea that I had fallen for him, but I kept trying to pawn him off on all my single girl friends. I could never understand why they didn’t want to date him.  Who wouldn’t? Oh wait.  I know.  He’s perfect for ME.  And now, I have him.  And I am NOT letting him go. 

Anyway, that’s really it. I’m not really that exciting, but I felt obligated to post this, so here you go.

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It’s New Year’s day, it’s glorious outside but I feel kinda crappy from a little bit too much to drink last night. Oops. Maybe shouldn’t have started the evening out with 4 shots of tequila rose (hey, it’s pink).

I’ve been up since about 11 AM and I thought I’d be nice and let the bf sleep in since he hardly ever gets to do so. Well, it’s almost 3PM and he’s still sleeping.

So far this morning I’ve done my normal rounds on the internet (check e-mail, facebook, mint.com, craftster.org, read feeds on google reader and general surfing), blogged, organized my bookmarks and printed several of them to PDFs to further organize things and make them accessable offline (mostly recipes and knitting/craft patterns/ideas)…and now I’m converting my holiday e-card to video so I can post it here as my “2008 recap” since that seems to be a popular subject with my friends who blog.

Also, I’ve had 3 cups of tea and probably about 5 peanutbutter balls.

And I’m still waiting for my friend Kelly to post her pix from our party last night on facebook.  I think she’s been working on her 2008 recap post.

Anyway, here’s some randoms I took with Photobooth from last night…and the morning after. Nothing too exciting. I reaaaallly need to get myself a point and shoot to replace my clunky one that’s about 6 years old.  I hate carting around my big/good camera so I just never bring one. :/  In case you were wondering I had my computer w/ me last night BECAUSE I needed to edit down our final playlist.

And finally, just thought you’d like to know I just typed “www.amazon.co,” 4 times before correctly typing “www.amazon.com”.  Happy New Year.  #FAIL

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