putting sexy away

What I ate last night when I got home from the gym, in the space of maybe 30 minutes:

1. 1/2 Thai California Pizza Kitchen pizza, which was supposed to be for lunch today;
2. Two pieces Pepperidge Farm light-style wheat bread with roasted red pepper hummus (breakthrough!!! red peppers, and perhaps green as well, do not upset my stomach anymore!)
3. One cup Total Raisin Bran and one cup fat free milk;
4. One 100-calorie pack kettle korn microwave popcorn;
5. One handful of Reeces Peanut Butter Chips that belong to Jane, but I just couldn't help myself;
6. One Morningstar fake chicken patty doused in BBQ sauce;
7. One 100-calorie pudding snack with one tablespoon of fat-free Cool Whip; and
8. One more tablespoon of fat-free Cool Whip just for shits and giggles.

And I mean, this was in one sitting. Can you say "PMS?" Thank God I have only diet shit in the house.

Also, is it wrong to have a crush on a married man who's also running for President?

the health fairy hit me with her celery wand

You'd NEVER believe it, but I'm actually HEALTHY these days. Seriously. I quit smoking for real (except when I'm out drinking, but more about that later). I haven't bought a pack in over three weeks. And you know what? It's cool, man. The first couple of days sucked, but now I don't even think twice about it. Every now and then I'll get an urge, but then I picture myself standing outside in the DC cold smoking a cigarette, and it makes me feel all icky and I don't want one anymore. Who would have thought that me, Amy Frances, she who came out of the womb with a cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other, and stilletto heels, would feel "icky" about smoking cigarettes?

Also, I'm eating healthy. Like, cooking for the week on Sundays, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, drinking lots of water, and taking Viactiv calcium supplements. Yes, I said cooking. Turns out I can cook. Yesterday I made a cuban pork and sweet potato stew. Mmmmmm.
The calcium supplements are because I've also taken up running again. My goal is to run a 10k in May. I'm up to five miles per day on the treadmill, which consists of running four ten-minute miles and walking one mile. I feel fucking GREAT. I LOVE running. But, every now and then I'll get this dull pain in my ankles. I keep hearing the voice of old Mrs. Etterman, my legal secretary teacher, bitching at me that smoking cigarettes and drinking soda causes osteoporosis and when I get old my bones are going to crack in half. So now I'm scared, and I keep thinking that the ankle pain is osteoporosis because I smoked cigarettes and drank soda for too long. Hence, the calcium supplements.

Also, I stopped being a lush. Okay, maybe I get a little lushious still, but only once a week! I've cut the drinking back to once a week (never stopped to think that there were so many empty calories in alcohol!), which means that I indulge in a little nicotine once a week, even though I quit. It's good though. I have a few cigs with my drink, but I'm not feeling like I need to go to the store and buy a pack the next morning or something.
I told y'all I was becoming a new woman. So far, 2007 is turning out quite well.

new year, new woman (part deux)

I'm feelin' good, people. I have been a non-smoker for four whole days. This is really a huge deal. I started smoking cigarettes when I was 13, and I started smoking one pack per day when I was 16, and I've never quit for more than 12 hours. So four whole days is huge. And I feel great! I mean, there are times when I really want a cigarette. Like today, I was seriously contemplating going up to my bar and having a beer just so I could bum one cig off somebody.

"Just one - all I need is one, maaaaaan." (A la Basketball Diaries.)

But I didn't do it. I prevailed. Turns out I do have a little willpower!
In other updates, tomorrow I begin working towards the other half of the 2007 Action Plan - getting skinny. My new girlfriend L has made a pact with me that we shall both look ridiculously hot in a bikini by summertime so we can go to the beach in our bikinis and look ridiculously hot doing it. So, we are attending a Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow, which helped my mother become a skinny bitch, so that we can be skinny bitches and my mom won't be able to say shit to me like "Hey, try on all my old [fat] jeans. How do they fit? Oh, they're snug? No way! Hahahahaha!"

Also, I am purchasing a two-week trial membership at this big fancy gym from which I plan to haggle a sweet deal. I chose this gym not because of its fancy towel service, five million locations, or complementary personal trainer, but because of its group exercise classes. Specifically, non-contact boxing. With punching bags and shit. And non-contact kickboxing. I can't wait.

I say all this, but it is only 12 days into the new year. Get back to me at the end of the month and see where I'm at...

new year, new woman

I'm home* from Florida. Missmo left early this morning. The chaos that has been my life for the past two weeks has come to a screeching halt.

*Weird. I said "home from Florida" like it was nothing.

The past two weeks really has been a whirlwind of events. From Scotty extending his stay in Florida and greeting me at the front door when Missmo picked me up from the airport, to lying in bed yesterday afternoon and trying to recollect the blur of the Capitol Hill New Year's celebration the night before. It's been quite a ride. And not all good. Some of it was real bad.

I've also been doing a lot of perspective-finding. It's a new year – a whole twelve months of new opportunity to become a better me. A smoke-free, skinny jean-wearin', healthy, kick-ass lawyer who pursues her goals to fulfillment and looks hot in a bikini.

So here's to 2007…

on the road again

Goddamn I'm out of shape.

I used to run alot. Like four miles a day, without stopping for a little walk or anything. I'd just get on the treadmill, put my music on and run run run. I loved it. It was such a stress reducer and I'd feel all good about myself when I got off, all sweaty and red and out of breath and shit but feeling like a strong-ass bitch. My ass got all tight and my legs were in the best shape EVER. Then I don't know what happened.

Perhaps it was the stair mill incident, the first time I ever tried the stair mill. I put that shit on 5 and HIT IT...for about five minutes. Next thing I knew, the room started spinning and I felt like I was going to puke or pass out...in the middle of SW Rec (my Gator girls will appreciate how embarassing that would have been). I didn't know that 5 was a high level on the stair mill spectrum of difficulty.

Or perhpas I just traded in the treadmill for the booze my last semester of law school. I just don't know.

Anyway, lately my iPod has been have a different effect on me. Instead of wanting to break it down like the chicks in the Vivrant Thang video in the middle of the metro, I want to RUN. I don't know what it is. The extra stress with the bar coming up or the fact that I no longer make my daily walk to the metro or what. So today I decided to do it. I planned to run the 10 or so blocks up to Pennsylvania Ave and back, which would have been no sweat 10 months ago.

Yeah...so not gonna happen. I made it about four and had to stop to walk. Then I ran another two, had to walk one, run one, walk two, run two, walk one. Moreover, my runner girl exercise clothes apparently no longer fit me very well, as I had to keep pulling down my top which was riding up and exposing my belly. I mean, even though I fit right in on H Street, it was still making me uncomfortable.

Gonna hit it again tomorrow. I am now DETERMINED to make it up to Penn and back without stopping to walk. In the meantime, I need a cig.

AND...I miss my Florida friends...terribly...