Random thoughts

cleaning out my inbox today i found this in an email from raul. thanks hun!

Random thoughts from people our age...-

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.-

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

-I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-That's enough, Nickelback.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

- Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

I'm so excited!!!!!!

I'm excited.... totally pumped about several upcoming things....

We're about to go into the month of April (which is crazy to me how quickly the year is going by...) I don't have much planned as of now for April, but after April is May and well May is my favorite month EVER!

May has always been my favorite time probably because well my birthday falls in May and anyone who has known me for a long time and knows my family knows that it wasn't birthday weekend for Emily, it was always birthday MONTH! My mom was like that with her birthday and just carried it over to me and well NO COMPLAINTS! THANKS MOM!

SO this may marks my quarter of a century celebration and I am so excited. Last year i didn't celebrate with friends. I was having a rough year so instead my brother and I went to see my mom that weekend ( my birthday is always mother's day weekend... this year it is mother's day). I'm glad we did it. We had a blast! We had a fancy dinner, drank great wine, my mom cooked a meal i wanted.... drank more great wine, played card games, went to an art festival and i got to have my last moments with my grandma. When I got back my dad and stepmom took me to a nice dinner at Churrassco's.

This year I'm resorting back to my old habits of celebrating life.... it just so happens many opportunities came my way the month of may and i am just using them as more of a way to celebrate the life i have lived and the excitement of whats to come.

The first weekend in May is the warrior dash up in Dallas. I'm STOKED! Not only am I stoked to do it but the whole weekend with my friends is super exciting for me. I plan to go up early and spend some much needed time with my girlfriend Toneisha. We haven't gotten to just hang out the two of us in a very very long time so we are both looking forward to having a little adventure like we used too. Lots of photos and probably lots of shopping!

I'm also going to spend time with and race with my old friends Braden and Brandon. It's always good times with those boys. My close friend Morgan will be running the dash with me on Sunday! I can't wait to see her as well! It will be a nice way to 1) see friends 2) have new memories and 3) start my bday celebration accomplishing my goal of the warrior dash

The following weekend is my actual birthday. Not sure if I will do anything that weekend as I don't want to compete with what people have going on. I wish i could fly to Atlanta for my cousin's graduation.... maybe

The next weekend its ON! I've been on this Ketosis diet for awhile so bday weekend is my first time off.... time for cake and time for some champagne! I plan to have brunch with close friends out on a patio somewhere, hang by the pool in my bikini all day and then dance all night with friends! no set plans just yet but that's the idea. Plus Michelle will be here so even if we did nothing, we'll have a blast!

Fast forward 2 weeks from that. I'll be boarding a plane with my oldest friend Kristin... headed to Miami to take a cruise with her family to the Bahamas...... We'll be celebrating both of us turning 25 and her graduating college! I started looking at excursions, spa treatments, activities on the boat and DUH.... new BIKINIS and cute clothes to wear.

So the month of April and May will be me anxious for all these upcoming exciting times and busting my butt to look my best! Can't wait!!!! Can't wait to blog about it and show the photos!!!

humility......

So the issue of humility is something that i think all people face with on a regular basis. For some being humble is easier than others. I dont think there is anything wrong with tooting your own horn from time to time and sharing in your successes but there's a difference between sharing and well having a HUGE EGO!

this weekend i was in san antonio for my best friends birthday and she was excited that her friends's boyfriend was bringing his friend who just so happened to be the olympic gold medalist this year in bobsledding. I wont say his name but if you are that interested.... google it. You'll find him.

i was excited too, not even going to lie. I loved the movie Cool Runnings from back in the day and how many Texans can say they know a bobsledder... i mean really? So i thought it would be neat to meet a bob sledder and an olympian. I was a bit skeptical if he would be full of himself and my friend told me from what she had seen on TV he seemed really nice. I was still skeptical as i figured it might have been his nerves on TV keeping him grounded.

Well he came to dinner and he sat on the opposite end of the table from me so i didn thave much interaction, but later when it was cake time i moved down to that end to help her cut and serve her cake as well as take pictures. well he seemed nice enough. he helped me get the cake out of the box, light the candles, even took pictures of us singing to her and serving the cake. i thought " wow he might be a non big inflated ego kinda guy" WRONG!!!!

I sat down there probably 20 minutes and the entire time he didnt stop talking about himself. it wasnt even about olympic stuff it was about anything and everything him he could come up with. how he used to wake up and cross the street and eat all his neighbors eggs and little debbie cakes while he was sleeping and he would eat them and watch him sleep and then deny it when he woke up. UMMMM and i care because? Then he went on and on about other stupid pointless stuff just cus he thought he was SOOOO COOL.

So we leave the restaurant to go to a bar and he was saying goodbye ( THANK GOD! I wish i could have my 20 minutes of my life back!) and he had his big Olympic jacket on and commented to me that my sweater was probably not going to keep me warm. So then he goes on and on about his jacket and how he shipped it down here and how he never thought he would have an opportunity in texas to get to wear it so he thought he should. Then this girl walked over and asked for his autograph. AHH GEEZ!

I dunno. i guess i wasnt surprised he was a tool bag but i was hoping there might still be some young athletes out there who's parents raised them not to be a big shot. i guess i had hoped he would at least ask the other people ( esp the bday girl) about herself. From the other people at the table who sat by him the whole dinner, i got the best of it and only endured 20 minutes and not hours. Who knows... maybe he was always a big dumb jock who liked to hear the sound of his voice or maybe winning a gold medal put him over the edge.... still. it put a big dent in my view of athletes, olympians and bobsledders.......

managing money....

So i've written a few blogs about managing money and saving money before and i guess the older i get the more i turn into my father and want to have complete awareness of where my money goes and how to make it go the farthest.

I had read in a few people's facebook statuses to try www.mint.com and that it helped them get out of debt and plan this and plan that. it had been awhile but i was bored one day i logged in and set up an account not really knowing what to expect.

I LOVE IT! i was used to checking into my bank and my credit card just about daily to see balances and check my spending and to make sure i was on track for my budget. the mint links all your accounts into one place. You can link any and all checking, savings, credit cards, loans, mortages, 401k, stocks etc in one place. So its nice to see your debt to cash on there. it has simple graphs that show where you money is going and if you are over or under in your spending categories. my wellsfargo does that too but since it links all your accounts together it links your credit spending with your cash spending. If you have property ( house, car, jewelry etc) you can put that as your assests too.

i like that the spending categories are very detailed. some budgets are too broad this gets very specific. It also have advice on different checking, savings, credit, 401k plans that work best for you. Unfortunately my 401k is through a smaller company and it doesnt link directly too it.

i suggest everyone check it out if they enjoy knowing where their money is going and like to stay on track. well and if you dont i suggest you get started... NOW!

obesity....

So this morning on the radio they were talking about the heaviest people ever and how the largest woman ever was recorded at over 1200 lbs and was 5 feet wide. I almost wrecked! Thats 10 of me weight wise and my height width wise! I'm sorry but how does that happen? I know there are medical conditions to make people gain weight or that effect their Thyroid,other glands and other hormones that effect our metabolism but come on.

Maria Todd is back on the radio and she posed a good point. The people are so big they are immobile, so who buys them the 3 cheesecakes a day, the ridiculous amount of junk and feeds it to them? They are enabling it. It reminds me of when i worked at red lobster and parents would feed their kids just french fries. oh that would upset me so much. way to get your kids off to a healthy start. I cant tell you how many times my parents made me sit at the table and finish everything that was green on my plate and i'm so glad they did!

Its interesting at how we are becoming more educated about health, weight, nutrition etc but yet there is this obesity epidemic. Watching the biggest loser and conversations with some of my friends i dont understand how some people arent even the SLIGHTEST big educated or knowledgable about food labels. its like Greek to them.

There is this new TV show coming out on ABC (the name slips my mind at the moment) about nutrition in schools and america. I'm REALLY hoping that like the biggest loser trend, it takes off and people become more inspired to think about what they put in their mouths and that you can still eat great tasting food ( even BETTER TASTING) without clogging your arteries and shortening your life. We're given one life, one body and i think we should make it be the best and make it last as long as we can.


Check out this article..... its quite sad The world's heavist people

The cost of healthy living...

So I've been aware of the cost of eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle for quite awhile now and after a conversation with a friend over lunch and an article my friend crystal posted on facebook today i came across another article that inspired me to vent..

The article i found was about the cost of junkfood. It made me chuckle. I mean granted there was scientific research to find statistics to back up the information but in the article they basically say "we eat less crap when it cost more" NO KIDDING? REALLY?

Seriously, can i write for yahoo in the captian obvious section too and make money?

Anyways, the topic of diet ( and not losing weight diet but ones nutrition and what they eat everyday diet) came into thought. since i'm on a new nutrition plan i'm super conscious of particular foods, where to get it, how much it cost, how much of it i eat, how much i can afford and let me tell you: Healthy eating is not cheap! Take a walk through Whole Foods and you'll walk out feeling happy you are healthy but dejected cus your bank account took a bigger drop than you expected it too.

In my conversation with my friend today I said something like ,"taste isnt an issue. I love all foods and appreciate the taste of things that are good for me so its easy to give up junk. It also helps that over time your tastes and desires change but the real kicker is how much it cost. I love Ramen noodles and thats probably the cheapest thing one could eat and probably one of the worst things. People eat badly because its cheap and easy!"

So this goes back to the article. Obviously we eat less crap when it cost more, so if companies lowered the prices of expensive healthy food more people would be inclined to eat better. I mean shoot the only decent thing you can get on a dollar menu at a fast food restaurant is a side salad for the most part, with a few exceptions.

Some fastfood chains are coming up with healthier alternatives which is nice when you are on the go, or eating with people who arent always as aware or don't care as much as you do. other companies like myfitfoods and trumeals are designing single serving healthy meals you can get fast, but can you imagine what it would be like if you could go to a drive through and be like, " i'll take the turkey avocado burger with a side of veggies please"

I'm hoping as time progresses we'll see more and more of more options. Not saying we should do away with the junk. well we should, but to each is own. I would just hope that since we all are given a choice, the balance of good and bad choices gets better. or geez, find ways to make those burgers and those fries healthier.