Gratitude

I'm feeling grateful for so many things, and need to make an effort to list them more often. But in no particular order, I am especially appreciative of and grateful for:

1. My incredible network of Twitter friends who are helping me to grow beyond my wildest dreams: @JoyceCherrier, @HipCop, @KatJaib, @ShellyKramer, @SusanLorelei, @mmangen, @CherryWoodburn, @FromTracie, @AmyOscar, @blogomomma, @SarahRobinson, and soooo many others.
2. My awesome circle of blog friends who have remained faithful, loyal, and true. You know who you are, you know who I am, yet you manage to love me anyway.Whoa! (This also applies to my non-blogger friends!)
3. Honest Tea, particularly the Pearfect White Tea. Also Lori's Lemon Tea.
4. Jazzercise, for allowing me to work out in a supportive, mirror-free atmosphere. Check out their 1-day sale HERE!
5. Jillian Michaels, despite her saying, "I want you to feel like you're gonna DIE!"
6. Candy. Because it helps keep my kids in line.
7. Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay. Because it helps get me out of line.
8. My friend Meg for not kicking me out of her birthday party Saturday night when I put a purple bowl in my shirt and pretended to be pregnant. My friend Anne for not disowning me after I slapped her ass while dancing. Meg's husband Justin for indulging me and adding the Wang Chung song to his iPod.
9. Our sweet babysitter Kiley who has the nerve to leave for college in California in 10 days, but has managed to put up with me and my neuroses, not to mention my children, for several years now.
10. Books. So many books, so little time. But lately, Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals," for opening my eyes to what's really going on behind the scenes in the food industry. Also "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett has likely been my favorite read so far this year.
11. My husband. I love him so much that we are getting remarried in October at The Sasone Wedding. He still puts up with me dotes on me after over 10 years together! I'm so lucky. He's such a trooper.
12. My children. Yes, they may be unruly, cantankerous little hags at times, but deep down they are loving, smart, and beautiful girls. Sometimes I do wonder if one of them not naming any names here was perhaps mixed up in the in-vitro lab, because her attitude is unlike anything I've ever witnessed or read about she can't possibly be mine.
13. My family---for loving me, encouraging me, humoring me, paying for my therapy and always being willing to talk through things and drug me when I become to difficult to deal with.

I shall end this list here before it becomes too boring although it's more than likely you stopped reading way back there on # 3.

What are YOU feeling grateful for besides me, of course?

Embrace Your Body Challenge with The Mommyologist

Mary The Mommyologist is once again getting us to think hard about how we view ourselves with this week's Embrace Your Body Challenge. If you go here, you can watch her vlog and hear what she likes about herself. It made me pretty nervous, but I let her thoughts marinate for a bit.

Ultimately I did my own vlog below about I like about me. It was difficult to do, as it's much more my speed to obsess over all the things I can't stand about myself. But the reality is that I have two young girls watching me every minute, so I need monitor myself and censor what I say out loud. I've got to start thinking more positively too, because they are perceptive and can sense a lot just by watching me as I get dressed and ready in front of a mirror.

So here it is---this was my first shot, out of breath & in the rough, right after failing miserably at a new Jillian Michaels dvd The Father Load bought. Still and all, I managed to find one positive thing. I am going to work hard to find others.

What do you like about yourself? Why not link up at Mary The Mommyologist's place with photos or a vlog and tell us?

Why Jazzercise is Evil, or, Maybe I Should Quit Working Out Altogether

Lucky Chinese Tag

Kys over at Stir-Fry Awesomeness tagged me. Which means I can keep/steal some of her original answers. Because she's original and I'm not.

8 TV Shows I Watch:
• Vampire Diaries
• True Blood
• United States of Tara
• Brothers & Sisters
• Dexter
• Big Love
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Man vs. Food


8 Favorite Places to Eat and Drink:
• Rock N' Sake (New Orleans)---sushi
• The Original Ruth's Chris (was in New Orleans, but Katrina took her out)
• The Galley (New Orleans) ---poboys
• Morning Call (New Orleans) ---beignets
• Vincent's (New Orleans) --Italian, where Hubs & I had our first date
• Galatoire's (New Orleans)
• Cafe Degas (New Orleans)
• Crepe Nanou (New Orleans) ---desserts

8 Things I Look Forward To: (all shamelessly plagiarized from Kys)
Winning the lottery
Alone time
Vacation (sans children)
Snarkler! *insert jazz hands*
Summer camp
The first day of kindergarten
Spring
Sleep


8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
Continental Airlines delivered my lost baggage. FINALLY.
Screaming/fighting /hair pulling/whining
Jazzercise
Sleep deprivation
Blog reading, writing, commenting
Indentured servitude
1st Vlog Attempt---boring, albeit successful
Cooking of turkey chili

8 Things I Love About Winter:
Sweaters and oversized clothing that conceals muffin top
Fires in the fireplace
Hot chocolate with mini marshmellows
Not sweating 24/7
Not having to schlep my kids and various toys, etc. to the pool, apply gallons of sunscreen, wear swimsuit
Fewer hours of daylight, therefore easier to convince children to go to bed earlier.
Snow (but not too much of it)
Snuggling

8 Things on My Wish List:
A wife
A mini Potbelly pig
Alone time
Quiet
A fast-forward button
A nanny
Books--lots on my "to be read" list
Sweets without any calories that taste good and aren't bad for you

8 Things I'm Passionate About:
Blogging
Reading
Writing
Peace (World and domestic, if you know what I mean.)
A clean house
Being Green
Helping others
My Judaism

8 Words/Phrases I Use Often:
No!
Goddamnit!
That's ridiculous!
Blog
crazy!
Please don't do that.
Not tonight.
Maybe tomorrow.

8 Things I've Learned From the Past:
Life isn't fair.
Blogging rocks!
Bad things happen in three's, four's, five's, etc.
Don't hide your private candy stash where your kids can easily find it.
Doritos and donuts won't make me happy (okay, maybe temporarily)
Love doesn't make the world go round---Blogging does!
I was a Great Mom before I had kids.
Some of my best friends may be people I haven't yet met, or people I just met.

8 Things I Currently Want/Need:
A personal chef
A lobotomy
A massage
A pedicure
A facial
More hours in the day
A good shrink
Supernanny

8 People I'd Like to Tag:
Jenny Mac
Speaking of Witch
3! A Charm
Good Girl Gone Redneck
The Inquisitive Mom
Think Tank Momma
Our Daze in the Desert
Angel Believes...

To Jazzercise or not to Jazzercise? That is the question.

So I've fallen off the Jazzercise wagon lately, what with my handicapped husband, family in town last week, and the Alzheimer's Memory Walk (which I brilliantly decided to run and then suffered several days of soreness afterwards). I reluctantly got back to it this week, but since so many of you are unfamiliar with the ritual, I thought I should take a few minutes to describe it to you.

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT how Jazzercise patrons dress. I must emphasize that the stereotypical image of Olivia Newton John in her "Let's Get Physical" video is not how we roll (I usually sport a tank top and capri pants). So please permanently remove this mental picture from your brains:

It all begins with the yawns. I'm too tired to go. I don't really want to go. Can I think of a good reason (or two) to skip out? Will one of the Anorexic Girls be there today (while I know they are struggling with their demons and they are not healthy, I always feel like they must look at me and think, "Now there's a FATTY!")? And then I have to consider who's teaching...because if it's Miss Red Head With Perfect Piggy Tails I'm A Size Zero, then I can't go. If it's Miss I'm Gonna Give You All A Pep Talk For The Next Hour with, "C'mon, you can do it!" or "Don't you want to work off all the nachos & fries you inhaled over the weekend?" who smiles the entire time, rockets all over the stage like my girls' bouncy balls, all the while maintaining her precious, perfect little hairdo---then I don't wanna go.




There are at least four main types of women at Jazzercise: the obsessive Anorexic Girls who probably go to class 2x/day, 7 days/week; the super-fit & muscled-not-an-ounce-of-fat-on-me girls; the real/average American girls, and the heavier girls. While I definitely appreciate the variety of body shapes & sizes, I don't appreciate the supersized posters of Judy Jazzercise all over the walls. Her eyes follow me while I work out, kinda like the Mona Lisa. Which is not a good thing when I'm huffing and puffing and sweating buckets. I have to wonder: does Judy Jazzercise even eat? Look at her. She's also much too happy. Is anyone truly happy while working out? I'm only happy when I'm done.






I usually opt for a potty break when I hear that seven-minute-long Jazon Mraz song come on. Because that's a good way to shave a few minutes off the really rough ab workout. As I lay the toilet paper out prettily over the toilet seat, I admire myself in the mirror--I love the way my workout pants accent my muffin top. And my calves are so white everyone has to wear shades. While I'm in the bathroom I notice that someone has left quite a mess at the sink. So I take an extra minute to wipe that up, and then I put a new roll of paper towels on the rack. Voila! I've wasted enough time that once I come back out, it's silly to start when the crunches are nearly over!

As a general rule, I always stand in the back row. Then there are significantly fewer opportunities for people to be faced by my fanny. I can also do my daily comparisons and belittle myself, admire others' super cute workout gear, and ogle the perfect girls. It's also a safe way to ensure that I do each routine correctly; it's far easier to watch the people directly in front of me & imitate them rather than to squint at the instructor way up in front. This isn't foolproof, however. I routinely go left when I should be going right, bang into my neighbor and shout "Sorry!" over the pulsing music. Or I'm doing a plié when everyone else is doing a jete. But I'm in the back row, so it's not glaringly obvious. Except to the instructor in the front of the room.

My favorite instructor is Sally. Sally happens to be a real/average American girl like myself. She isn't a pep talk person and she knows how to make the workout more fun. She'll talk about all the crap she ate over the weekend, all the beer she drank, and rant about her husband's latest antics (including a recent debacle with a homemade aquarium that leaked everywhere). She is real. She is not tiny. She sweats buckets like me. She gets tired during the workout like me. I appreciate that sort of thing because it makes me feel more normal. And because she helps me feel that way, I'm more inclined to go, and to seek out the classes she's teaching.
What do you like to do for exercise & how often do you do it? How do you stay motivated & realistic with your goals?