Monday, June 28, 2010

Baby Fever

You know when you're old? When your entire weekend is packed with baby play dates and baptisms.

My nephew Darren James is so precious, when I don't see him during the weekdays I can't stop thinking about him. On weekends, my boyfriend and I make the trip up to Wauconda and spend the day with him yet somehow it's still not enough.

It's so funny and interesting to learn that you can watch babies do just about anything and be just in awe.

I could watch Darren sleep for hours and still not take my eyes off of him.

With my other sister pregnant, baby fever is in the air. And though babies are a welcome miracle, I'm personally nowhere near ready to want or have one.

It's a good thing we'll have two babies in the family this year...

Friday, June 25, 2010

Oral Fixation

The many and albeit daily eating downfalls at the office include boxes of sugar coated donuts, homemade brownies, cupcakes, candy filled cabinets and don't forget fast food lunches -- all washed down with an endless coffee supply. No thanks!

In the last 8 or so months I've put on some weight, when I tell people how much weight I've gained I find that the usual response is along the lines of, "I can't tell," or "that's not a bad at all."

But it is bad, I'm 5 feet tall so every pound matters on a petite figure like mine. I'm not upset about the weight gain but I'm certainly doing something about it. Big changes have happened in my life since last fall when I was at my physical best: I moved out of my parent's home in the suburbs, I'm now working downtown and living with my boyfriend in the city.

New home, new relationship, new job -- change can lead to a lot of things and in my case, weight gain. Suffice it to say, I've let myself go a little bit and have put on about 8 lbs, a little less than 1 lb for every month my boyfriend and I have been together. While it's certainly not an excuse to eat anything I want all the time, I accept the change and am now moving forward with becoming healthier. I've been at the gym almost every day this week to reinforce cardio and strength training as a routine.

And because I sit at a desk for 8 hours on Monday through Friday, eating healthy is harder than one would think, or at least it was. Ever since we moved in together two weeks ago, we've been cooking dinner at home and also packing our own lunches. This is a much better alternative than running downstairs and hitting one of the many fast food chains in the Loop, it's cost effective too!

Now I don't consider myself a "snacker," but there are times while I'm at work that I just need something, a piece of gum or mint...or whatever I can grab in our company's "candy cabinet."

In an effort to appease said oral fixations, I've recently purchased a 150 count container of Yummy Earth's Organic Lollipops from Amazon. They're all natural lollipops (no artificial flavoring or dyes) and a serving size is about 3 pops for 70 calories. I've shared these with my team (and other teams) and everyone really loves them. They're also fairly sour and less sweet which is highly enjoyable. I've got them at my desk, readily available for when that craving kicks in...

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Writing Won't Be On the Wall

In light of some personal realizations I've made the choice to remove myself from the Facebook community. It's been a presence in my mind for quite some time now and after evaluating my life in terms of what I want, need and where I wish to be in the future, Facebook is not a part in any of those plans.

So why does it sound like I'm talking about letting go of a relationship, it's a social networking site, not a person right? Reality check: Facebook was something I was a part of every single day. It was a part of my morning routine, as soon as I checked my emails upon waking up and again on my commute to the office. It was a part of my workday, I always kept an open screen to view updates. It was a part of any lunch or dinner plans in the form of pictures of my meal and checking in on Yelp.

And last night, after an argument with my boyfriend, Facebook became a part of us, our fight and our relationship with just an insignificant moment of weakness on my part.

No more. At first I thought I would slowly ween myself off of Facebook, maybe set a countdown of some sort to login and/or update less. And then I realized this morning, I'm not addicted to Facebook -- there is no chemical substance I'm dependent on.

I am a person; I am a living, breathing, loving, working, intelligent individual.

Facebook is a web site whose online relationships proliferate because of only one reason: we choose to and willingly participate in these menial interactions.

I participate in these menial interactions.

You have to know where you are to know where you're going. So, where am I?

I'm an aunt with a precious nephew I can't take my eyes off of. I'm in love and living with a man who changes my life for the better every single day. I'm friends with thoughtful individuals who inspire me constantly.

And I couldn't possibly ask for anything more than that.