Oh Bother...

I feel like Eeyore lately "The sky has finally fallen. Always knew it would."

No, seriously, I'm a complete and total Debbie Downer, a Negative Nancy, I feel like this stroke of bad luck won't quit and the hits just keep on coming. The crummy thing is that I don't even like myself right now and wouldn't blame someone for not wanting to be around me, I don't care much for my attitude, but man it's getting harder and harder to fight. I seriously feel like Eeyore, although without my tail nailed to my ass (that would make me pretty grumpy too).

My stress level is beyond high with school starting today, my internship two days a week that started yesterday, this GA Tech competition that is Thursday and Friday, in addition to having to find time to work, cause as you all know, if I don't work, I don't get paid.

To add fuel to the fire we have been sweating our asses off since Thursday when our 18 month old Air Conditioning unit crapped out on us and the latest estimate to get it fixed is over $900. There is a warranty on the unit, but it doesn't cover labor and the labor warranty was only for a year… so we're effed. We've called the manufacturer, LENNOX, and threatened to report them to the better business bureau, but they could care less, so I wrote a strongly worded letter to the CEO, of which I'm sure he'll never see, but I let him know what a piece-of-garbage product LENNOX has, how gawd awful their customer support is, and how I will make it a mission to blast their product on every forum, social network and website I can whenever I have the opportunity, and if an opportunity does not present itself, I will create it. I also thanked him for fucking up our American dream (sorry for the language). I know it's a little dramatic, but I can't imagine that someone who's salary is just shy of a million dollars a year (before any applicable bonuses) could possibly understand where we're coming from. BASTARDS!!! So, if you haven't figured it out yet… DON'T BUY LENNOX!!! Don't even consider it, not for one second, DON'T. Down with LENNOX.

And yet people still don't get that their comments of "you've got to be positive", "things will get better", "keep your head up" are just trite, especially as they are saying them while enjoying life with their perfect little families, in their perfectly air conditioned houses, with their comfortable bank accounts, because they work within their ideal job. Positivity gets harder and harder when you have been for years and years and years in the past and you still keep getting shit on.

Thank god for exercise. Boy, if my serotonin levels weren't low as it is with all the stress and misfortune in life, I would be completely certifiable if I didn't get up every morning and exercise. It has been a great stress release and I can't wait until it's a little cooler and I can burn off more stress in the evening. Shy-town met me this past Sunday to go run at Boling Park. We actually finished 5K! I didn't necessarily run the entire thing (Shy did, she's amazing) but I finished! I was so thankful for her agreeing to meet me because I needed to work out some frustration, yet I was in no mood to go and exercise. So her planning on meeting me meant that I had no option but to go. Everyone at bootcamp was so excited for me and today Michelle said that she was thinking about me all day saying "Liz is an athlete" BAHAHAHAAA… I don't know if I'll ever reach athlete status, I'm such a klutz and incredibly uncoordinated, but it's flattering that she thought it.

So here I am, hoping that things don't get worse (cause I've lost all optimism at this point), but hey, at least I haven't lost a son in Lebanon.

Orange Fingertips… OH NO!!!

Sorry for the depressing post last week, but life isn't always rainbows and glitter (or in my case, weight loss and horses) and part of sharing my journey is sharing my life, and the last week has been quite a downer. But in true Liz fashion, I've picked myself up and keep going hoping that hopefully luck will turn my way. What's the saying?!?!? If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all…

Last weekend Woodstock FitBody Bootcamp celebrated it's 2 year anniversary by going up to Ellijay for the weekend and utilized Michelle's father's cabin. We spent Saturday afternoon tubing the Cartecay River, well, actually the river was so low, that we spend 3 hours dragging ass on the Cartecay River, getting bumps and bruises, but a great arm work-out at the same time paddling ourselves because there was NO current. Then we went back to the cabin for some food, spirits, music videos, and karaoke. I can honestly say that it was the first "healthy person" party I've ever been too, and everyone brought a food dish that was healthy… whole wheat pasta salad, green salad, tomato & cucumber salad, fruit platters, veggie platters, hummus, peaches, and the Thai cole slaw that I brought. It was just funny to see no fatty mayo potato salad or pasta salad or the other fattening side dishes that you find at parties. But it was a blast!

I've been pretty darn good at counting all of my calories over the last couple of weeks, with the exception of one night involving a bag of Baked Cheetos - as Mary says "those things are like crack, once you start, it's hard to stop". The crummy thing is that the next morning on the way to bootcamp I realized that I couldn't even hide the evidence cause I had very orange fingertips. Hey… at least they were BAKED Cheetos and not regular ones.

I have been blown away by the amount of support I've been getting for the 5K!!! Courtney's life partner put a link on Support the Almighty Talbot Facebook page and complete strangers, who loved Courtney, have been making donations and I can't help but feel like hopefully I can aid in people's healing by having them know that Courtney is not forgotten. If you haven't been to Courtney's blog page, you should take a minute and go see why she touched so many lives. http://www.thealmightytalbot.com/

If you would like to make a donation, I added a ticker to the right of this blog, so you can easily click on the link and make a donation. My goal is $750 but I'd love to challenge people to help me reach $1000. Every little bit helps. It takes about $100 to process new donors through entering information, running the scientific tests on the swabs, and maintaining the results to find marrow matches. So if 10 people donate $10 that could cover the expense of one person becoming a donor. $10 is not a lot of money… it's skipping your daily Starbucks run twice this week, it's having 2 less cocktails tonight at the bar (or in my case, one cocktail - I have expensive taste), it's brown-bagging your lunch to work one time next week. It's only $10 and that $10 can save someone's life… for me, it's a no-brainer! I would skip Starbucks everyday if it meant saving the life of one person.

I'm also asking EVERYONE reading this blog to pass it along. I've been getting so much feedback and I'm now convinced that I'm reaching more and more people, but I want more - Yeah, I know, I'm greedy.  If you like my blog, you read my blog on a regular basis, and want to continue reading my blog then do me a favor… at the bottom of each post there is a series of little buttons… click one of the buttons to share my blog on your favorite social network sight… click on the Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. button and tell the world that you love Operation: Longevity. I had almost 50 hits on my "What's that smell?" post and I want to reach 100 hits!!! So do it. Have you clicked on it yet? No? Ok, I'll give you a second…



Done?
Ok! Thanks!


Goal for the week: Don't buy Baked Cheetos!!!

Hugs XOXOX

Groundhog’s Day

For the last 6-7 years I have been waking up every morning and diving head first, full-force into the day. Everyday I do whatever I can to better my life, my husbands life, and my marriage. Everyday I find ways to encourage and support those around me. Everyday I pray that maybe this will be the day that the sun will shine on us and the gray cloud hanging over our heads will move away. And everyday I go to bed feeling defeated.

People always say that as long as you’re doing what you love, you’ll be happy… but what if outside forces are keeping you from doing what you love?!?!? What if you have made every effort to better your life by giving to others, gaining a better education, raising yourself up with devotion, and every effort is met with a brick wall? What do you do then? Keep waking up to the same thing day after day and going to bed every night heartbroken?

My amazing, intelligent, passionate husband has been trying for the last 6 years to do what he loves, teaching social studies. He has been met with a year and a half of rejection, heartache, self-doubt, and despair. When he’s not happy, I’m not happy, and when I’m not happy, he’s not happy. I hate that he is beating himself up for things that are out of his control and I hate that the universe doesn’t recognize what an amazing human he is.

No disrespect, but the “hang in there”, “something will come up”, “keep at it”, and “there’s something out there for you” comments are nothing but a reminder that for the last 6 years he has been playing by all the rules to make a better life for himself and us, and losing this game of life. He/we have been hearing those same comments over and over and over again, and they don’t help. If that were the case, then after 6 years something would have come along to enhance our lives. Instead we are met with more and more obstacles that challenge our spirit, and everyday it’s getting harder to keep pushing along when all we’re doing is spinning our wheels.

So forgive me if my smile isn’t as big, my head is held a little lower, and my spirit is not up, but I’m feeling a little broken right now and I just don’t have the fight in me.

What's that smell?!?!?

WEEKEND UPDATE | WEEKEND UPDATE | WEEKEND UPDATE | WEEKEND UPDATE

I haven't been feeling 100% the last few days and I've been extremely lethargic. So tired, in fact, that when my alarm went off yesterday morning to go to the park and run… well, I turned it off and slept another 3 HOURS!!! Now, that's tired. I did managed to get up this morning (albeit a little late) and get over to the park to run. 

I realized pulling into the parking lot that the Rodeo was in town this weekend and the Rodeo conveniently holds their show right in the park area where I run (that was sarcasm, if you couldn't figure it out). When I pulled into the parking lot I saw a couple of horses standing around the park grounds and I thought for a minute that maybe I wasn't allowed to go into the area and run, but then I saw a few people coming out of the area and decided to go for it.* 

*for those of you not familiar with Boling Park… in order to get to the park area where the gravel running path is, you have to go over a little bridge that separates the park from the parking lot.

Let me first say that the smell when I crossed the bridge almost knocked me over. I've said it before and I'll say it again… You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl. I started to stretch a little to allow my nasal passages to get accustom to the smell of "nature" and then took off, yet again hoping that my Forest Gump leg braces would break off and I would take off (didn't happen). I made one complete lap around and even took a minute off my mile - HOORAY!!! All while having to inhale the lovely aromas and dodging manure on the running path. But then I started getting distracted by all the horsies all over the place. Yes, I did talk to them, called them puppy, and barked at them (Greg can verify that I really do feel that horses should say "woof" instead of "neigh") - I'm certain that the other people walking/running thought I had escaped from some local mental hospital and considered calling the people in white coats to come and take me away.

On my second lap around (which I was walking at this point) a deer came out of the woods to nibble on the hay scattered around for the horses. I'm sure she was also cleaning up the scraps of popcorn and peanuts and lord-know-whatelse the Rodeo goers left behind over the weekend. It reminded me of Templeton, the giant rat from Charlotte's Web, scavenging around after the circus. Silly little deer let me get super close to her. If I was 10 feet away, I'm being generous!!!

Then I scared mamma deer away, I walked on and turned around to see that mamma returned with her two little babies…

I know they're kinda hard to see… but they're in there!!!

 The whole thing kinda reminded me of a couple of years ago when I wrote the blog post about the deer that ran along side of me for a little bit and then darted into the woods. At the time I didn't have a cameral with me, so I drew a picture. If you want to read that post "Mind Over Matter… Matter Wins!" click HERE. If you don't want to go to the past blog, here is the picture…

Very accurate rendition, if I do say so myself.

Oh, but my story doesn't end there… I left the deer family alone and continued on around to where the Rodeo owners (for lack of a better term) had their trailer. They had two beautiful horsies tied up and I stopped to turn my back to one of the horses and tried to take a picture of me with the horse in the background. As I look up this beautiful white horse was trotting right towards me. Scared the be-jesus out of me, but I started to talk to her and she let me pet her and love on her. She was mammoth (way bigger than my dogs, who I sometimes call mini-horses) but was so gentle and I really think that she just wanted to be in my picture too…

I named her Starlight

I did manage to get a picture… finally, of me with the now two horses in the background, although I'm not sure I got Starlights best side.

I know, my face looks kinda funny in this picture, but I have to admit that I wasn't completely comfortable turning my back to this beautiful, but massive animal that could knock my skull into pieces with one swift, little kick. 

Anywho… this is just one more reminder that I'm doing what I should be doing, and that had I not started exercising, I would have missed out on this magnificent experience. 

HUGS XOXOX

Il taxi è qui

Translation: Cab's Here!!!

So one of my silly little guilty pleasures is watching the total debauchery called Jersey Shore!!! Believe me, I know that show is not life changing, but it's pretty entertaining watching orange people make complete and utter fools of themselves. C'mon, I know you watch it too… just admit it.

So why, you ask, is this the title of todays post??? Well GTL of course!!! For those non-Jersey Shore watchers, GTL stands for Gym, Tan, Laundry and well… after my favorite 8 Guidos and Guidettes got to Florence, Italy they went out to GTL and while they were doing the G part, the guys were using Crazy Ropes!!! This is something we do at bootcamp where we have these large, heavy, 20-30 foot ropes that we have to snake up and down… crazy cardio and crazy arm workout. Eric calls it the Pacific Ocean because when you have three of us lined up shaking our ropes, it kinda looks like waves in the ocean.

So here is my giant NERD ALERT!!! I have been so incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of support I have been getting, both emotionally and through donations, for my 5K next month. Not only are the donations pouring in, but I've been getting amazing words of encouragement from everyone and I'm so excited to be doing this, not only for myself, but also for this amazing cause, and believe it or not, I'm doing this also for all of you. I have been hearing over and over again how inspiring I am (which is still a little mind boggling) and I suppose this just keeps the inspiration going.

So why am I a nerd? Well, cause, quite frankly, my eyes well up every time I get another donation because I'm so touched. I know, I know, those of you who know me are now rolling your eyes and saying to yourself… "Liz cries at Hallmark and Publix Holiday Commercials" but this is a different kind of cry - I'm simply so touched by everyone's generosity (and ya'll know that the Publix commercial where the whole family goes to the house of the doctor to surprise him because he can't travel to them for christmas, makes you teary eyed too). It's never too late to make a donation and if you haven't done so yet and would like to, please click HERE.

Stacy went to some trainer training (HA) and she came back with new gadgets and torture ideas and I'm totally feeling it this week. While each day of each week is different, there is always going to be some repetition of exercises and I guess my body was getting used to some of them. Well, not this week. My legs are KILLING ME!!! I was lying flat on the couch last night with Greg's belt wrapped around my foot holding my leg straight up in the air to try and stretch out my hamstrings… OUCH! No pain, No gain - Right?!?!?!? Although, it would be nice if this was easy.

I did get my bootie up early last Saturday and Sunday to go to the park and run around and see how much work training for this 5K is going to be. Saturday I managed to go 1.5 miles w/out stopping and then walked .5 then started to run, but starting back up was not so easy. Then Sunday I went 2 miles non-stop and walked another .5. I keep thinking that I'll be like Forest Gump and my (imaginary) leg braces will break off as I start moving my feet and "I was running", but no, it's hard propelling my butt around and I have a ways to go still.

One pound down this week, although it was not an easy pound and I barely made the cut-off. I've been kinda slack in journaling all of my grub and I suppose I should make that my goal for the week: write down EVERY little bite I put in my mouth!!!

HUGS XOXOX