Please help me reach my goal!

Addiction

I. Can't. Stop. Drinking. Dr. Pepper.

Seriously, look up the definition of "addict" in the dictionary and you'll see me holding a bottle (or can, or glass, whatever!) of Dr. Pepper. It's getting out of control and I can't stop. The worst part is that I know how bad it is for me, yet at least 50% of my daily caloric intake has been in the form of Dr. Pepper lately.

Any suggestions? I tried to quit cold turkey, but I just couldn't handle it. Other sodas don't cut it for me, and I despise Diet Dr. Pepper. I still drink several glasses of water a day, but nothing tastes so good as a cold DP. Help!

Brrrrrr

It's just a little chilly this morning!

Million-Dollar Idea

I had a "million-dollar idea" this afternoon, so you can imagine my disappointment when I found that someone else beat me to the punch. Shortly after my astounding revelation about my eating habits (see post below), I started trying to inventory my pantry and refrigerator to see what I have, what I need, and what I can possibly make for lunch and dinner. Then it hit me. What if there was a website or program where you could enter all of the contents of your kitchen by ingredient and then with the click of a button you receive a list of all of the possible options for a meal? Genius! Then I started googling. And then I found it (more than one, in fact). I found supercook.com, MY brilliant idea put into action by someone else.

All kidding aside, it's a pretty cool little website. You literally enter everything you have in your kitchen and the box on the right fills with possible recipes. I haven't yet tried any of the recipes, and I'm sure many are less than stellar, but it's a start. There's also a box labeled "Do you have?" with suggestions of ingredients you may have forgotten about, and every time you add one of those suggested items more and more recipes appear. I'm looking forward to trying a few this week!!

Are you kidding me?!

Over the last several years, mostly because I've lived alone for a while, I've developed a really bad habit of rarely eating meals at home. I decided last night that I'd take a look at my last few bank statements and see just how much I'm spending to eat four or five lunches and three or four dinners out, whether fast food or otherwise ... and the result was ASTONISHING. Are you kidding me?! Almost embarrassing! I'll spare you the ridiculous number, but let me tell you - when I multiplied the weekly result by 52 I realized that I would be much closer to clearing some of my credit card debt if I'd take a few minutes each morning to make my lunch and cook myself a home-cooked dinner each (or most) night. The sad part about it all is that what I just said is so obvious.

So add this to the list - one of my new goals for this year is to eat out less and eat at home, or home-made lunches, more. I'm sure it won't be easy, and I know it won't happen for every meal (there are a few places that I just love to go to for lunch), but I have to start somewhere, and even a small change will be better!

One of the worst parts about it is realizing what it is that I've actually been eating. Trust me. It's not healthy. So, if somehow this plan doesn't manage to save me money in the long run, although I'm sure it will, it will definitely get me eating healthier. Definitely.

I happen to really enjoy cooking, but I feel like I really just don't have the time for it. The bigger problem, I guess, is that I currently have so little structure in my life that it just feels like I don't have the time, but really ... I do. While we're at it, let's add that to the list, too. I need to structure my days. I need a plan for each day (with room for changes, of course). Adding a little structure to my life would probably help put into motion many of the other goals I have for myself this year.

What an enlightening day I've had so far :)

[in]sufficiently healed

"Now that I'm sufficiently healed it's time to lace up my running shoes and get back in shape."

I was wrong. Shortly after my post on Monday I decided that there's no better time than the present to get started on those 2011 goals than now. Why put off to tomorrow what you can do today, right?

Well, no. Not always. I layered on running clothes, charged my Garmin 405, made a fun new playlist on itunes, laced up my running shoes and headed out the door for my first run of 2011. And for the two miles or so I felt GREAT. I literally couldn't stop smiling (except, of course, when I was avoiding large puddles of ice and mounts of snow). It was cold, but not unbearable. My lungs felt great. Mentally I was totally in it.

Then it hit me. A little more than two miles from home I experienced a pain in my left knee that I've become all too familiar with. Seriously, why me?! Needless to say, it was a long 2+ miles back to my house. I ran, but incredibly slowly. I can't even tell you how disappointed I am. I've run only a handful of times since the race in October and I felt certain that I could get through a few miles pain-free three months later. It's really, really frustrating.

When I went for the MRI in November the Orthopedist offered a script for physical therapy but I declined because of my ridiculous work schedule. I'm seriously reconsidering. I think I'd rather give up a few hours of work each week to be able to get back into the shape that I want to be in so badly. According to the doctor, the muscles and ligaments around my knee, particularly the IT band, are the source of the problem and led to the tear in my meniscus. The stretches and exercises I do at home clearly aren't enough, so I think I'm going to have to take it a step further and take him up on that PT script.

In the meantime, it's back to the eliptical.

New year, new.. blog?

This is at least my third attempt at blogging over the last few years. Clearly it hasn't worked out in the past, so here's to hoping I can stick with it!

I've welcomed the new year with open arms and am so excited to see what's in store for 2011. I'm happy, healthy, and finally feeling like I'm finding my place in such a big, grown-up world!

I'm so glad to have had the day off today. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I'll be honest - I actually haven't worked much in the last week or so because of a nasty stomach bug, but it's so hard to enjoy a "sick day" when you're really sick! I finally felt well enough today to venture out for a mani/pedi and a little MLK Day sale shopping.

Keeping with the title of this post, here are a few of my goals for the new year ...

1. Get organized - and stay that way! I'm usually pretty good at keeping my apartment clean, but lately I've been feeling very disorganized. I think I've been watching a few too many episodes of the Style Channel's Clean House. I also have my eye on some new furniture, but before I make the purchase I want to get rid of a lot of things and organize the stuff I'm keeping. It's a lofty goal, but I'm making progress!

2. Work less, socialize more. I was quite the social butterfly in law school, but once I graduated, passed the bar exam and began working as an attorney I found that my social calendar quickly took a backseat to working long hours for very little pay. Now that I have a couple of years under my belt at my current office I finally feel like I can spend a little less time at work and more time doing things I enjoy. I'm not going to lie - this sounds a lot easier than it will actually be for me, but it's worth a shot.

3. Get back in shape and start running again. I tore the meniscus in my left knee (for the second time) while running the Diva's Half Marathon here on Long Island in October and have gotten very little exercise since. I was really disappointed in myself, my performance and for getting injured again, so I pretty much gave up running and basically all other forms of exercise in protest. Now that I'm sufficiently healed it's time to lace up my running shoes and get back in shape. It's a new year and a fresh start, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the sport. Now if I could just get the temperatures to rise and all of this snow to melt ...

4. Take control of my finances. I could go on and on about this, but I'll spare you the details. Just know that $160,000 in law school debt certainly takes its toll on a third-year county-employed attorney living in one of the highest cost-of-living areas in the country. It's time to take control ... so if you have any suggestions on debt management and money saving, please feel free to comment :)

5. Visit HOME more! It's so hard being so far from my family and dearest friends, but if I do nothing else on this list this year, I want to visit "home" more often.

So that's it. Well, maybe not IT, but those are the top goals on my 2011 "To Do" list.

Here's to 2011!