new year, new me

boy, does that title sound SO corny, like a crummy self-help title.  but it's true.  i can only speak for how i feel right here, right now, but i feel as if i've turned a corner.  i'm feeling more and more each day like i did 8 years ago (was it 8 YEAR?!) when i was kicking ass and taking names at weight watchers.  who knows why i've blown it since last summer and gained 60 pounds.  focusing on the why of the past doesn't help me find the how of the future so i'm letting go of all that.

enter the new me: heavy, chronic knee pain, which i associate with the increasingly chronic tiredness and irritability.  i'm ready to feel better, physically, mentally, and all other -ally's that apply.  the knee pain is the most disheartening thing dragging me down right now.  now that i have the image in my mind, it's very much like kirsten dunst's dream sequence in melancholia with the yarn.  if you don't know what i'm talking about, that's another sad thing best left to another discussion.  the most i'll say about it is find your local indie movie theater and beg them to get it if they haven't shown it already and you just missed it.

i just finished the greatest book i've had the privilege of reading in quite some time, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greastest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney.  The book discusses willpower in general, not just for the purposes of changing your eating habits, and it was all information that i needed to hear.  for instance, who would have guessed that making yourself sit/stand up straight consistently throughout the day is more likely to strengthen your willpower for resisting that fast food run than telling yourself what an awful idea that would be, how much fatter and uglier eating that doughnut will make you, etc.  Also, and Dr. B has been prompting me of this for YEARS, self monitoring.  Whatever it is you need to do (watching what you eat, stopping smoking, saving money), making a physical note of what you do is important.

so i downloaded a food/exercise journaling app on my phone.  i have absolutely NO idea why this did not occur to me earlier, but Baumeister talks about it in the book and BAM, the idea was planted and implemented.  i absolutely LOVE it! the search functions are great and the best feature, as far as i'm concerned, is that it has an imbedded barcode scan feature, separate from the QR code reader that i already have, so if i have a product to add to my food log that still in it's original packaging or i just want to check how much of my daily calorie allowance a packaged food will take up, scan the barcode and the nutritional info and serving size is right there on the screen.  it's super easy to look up other foods and add your own as well.  like ANY other monitoring vehicle, if you have a custom food to enter or write down, you have to add up the nutritional content of all ingredients and divide by the number of servings.  that's true for any attempt to log your food for any program or app so i'm accustomed to that as a holdover from my weight watchers days.  the app i downloaded is the Calorie Counter from Fat Secret.  Fat Secret has a great website (http://www.fatsecret.com/) as well and the app, like any good app should, syncs any info so that whether i add my food or exercise on my phone or the website, it populates to both places without me having to worry about it.

i'm excited about it, and about how committed i feel about, so i hope this motivates someone to get out there and add some sort of new self improvement change to their life!

happy new year

so, I'm six days in on the new year and not doing so well with my new year's resolution to blog more.  however I'm absolutely kicking ass on my new year's resolution to stop using my debit card at drive thru's...but it is only 6 days in.  I'm trying not to focus on that though.  One of my daily motivational emails (which I printed out and have hanging over my desk at work) says to be careful what you wish for, not because you might get it, but because that may emphasize its absence in your life.  So, somewhere in my convoluted mind, this connection makes sense to me....that I not focus on the 299 odd days left in the year with no debit drive thru, but rather on my 6 days of ass kicking success.  Tomorrow will be big number 7!

KT and I are going to see The Devil Inside tonight.  There's little we like better than a good demon possession movie, so hopefully it'll be just that...GOOD!  I don't know what's worse, going home alone to a (hopefully) empty house as I'll be doing, or going home to a husband who KNOWS how susceptible you are to getting spooked and who possibly might hide in a dark doorway to scare the crap out of you as you creep in late at night as KT will be doing.  It's a toss up for sure :-)

You may be thinking to yourself, or actually saying out loud, "why go to a horror movie if it scares you?"  I have no answer for you.  I love horror movies, the scarier the better.  If it keeps me from going to sleep or makes me wakeful, staring out into the dark from under the covers, I'm happy.  Go figure.

again, Happy New Year!

books and movies 2011

I always like to keep track of the movies I watch and the books that I read.  No particular reason, just so's I can keep track :-)

THE BOOKS OF 2011
80. The Lady of the Storm by Kathryne Kennedy
79. A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander
78. Courting Death by Carol Stephenson
77. The Daddy Catch by Leigh Duncan
76. Guys & Dogs by Elaine Fox
75. Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
74. The Sibling Effect by Jeffrey Kluger
73. How to Eat a Small Country by Amy Finley
72. Revamped by Jeremy Lewis
71. My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock
70. Staked by Jeremy Lewis
69. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
68. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
67. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
66. The Warlock by Michael Scott
65. Thirsty by Tracey Bateman
64. Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
63. The Necromancer by Michael Scott
62. Kill Shakespeare: Volume 1 by Conor McCreery
61. Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
60. What Comes After by Steve Watkins
59. The Sorceress by Michael Scott
58. The Magician by Michael Scott
57.Unforgettable by Penny Richards
56. The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time by David Ulin
55. The Billionaire's Unexpected Heir by Kathie DeNosky
54. His Country Girl by Jillian Hart
53. Days of Reading by Marcel Proust
52. Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky
51. Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston
50. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
49. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
48. A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
47. Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
46. Cowboys and Aliens by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
45. Red Glove by Holly Black 44. Belladonna by Mary Finn
43. Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
42. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
41. Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
40. Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
39. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
38. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
37. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
36. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
35. The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
34. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
33. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
32. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
31. You Think That's Bad: Stories by Jim Shepard
30. The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
29. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
28. Smokin' Six Shooter by B.J. Daniels
27. Vampire Empire, Book One: The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith
26. Great Classic Science Fiction narrated by various artists
25. Slan by A.E. van Vogt
24. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
23. Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns by Erika Falk
22. Now and Then by Jacquelyn Sheehan
21. The Hunt by Anne Marsh
20. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
19. Exotica: Seven Days of Kama Sutra, Nine Days of Arabian Nights by Eden Bradley
18. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
17. Bond With Me by Anne Marsh
16. The World Inside by Robert Silverberg
15. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
13. The Healer's Garden by Nina Pierce
12. Unchained: The Dark Forgotten by Sharon Ashwood
11. Dane: Lords of Satyr by Elizabeth Amber
10. Taken Beyond Temptation by Cara Summers
9. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
8. Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
7. Conspiracy in Death by J.D. Robb
6. Passionate Pleasures by Bertrice Small
5. Perfect Partners? by C.J. Carmichael
4. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
3. The Hell-Fire Clubs: Sex, Satanism, and Secret Societies by Evelyn Lord
2. The Fall by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
1. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds


HOLLEY GOES TO THE MOVIES - 2011
Melancholia (2) :-D
Dolphin Tale :-D
The Adventures of Tintin :-D
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked :-(
Arthur Christmas :-D
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows :-D
Breaking Dawn (2) :-D
Paranormal Activity 3 :-D
Dream House :-(
50/50 :-)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark :-D
Our Idiot Brother (2) :-)
The Smurfs (2) :-)
Mr. Popper's Penguins :-/ meh
Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides :-/ meh
The Help (3) :-D
Cowboys vs. Aliens :-)
Captain America :-/ meh
The Cave of Forgotten Dreams :-D
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2) :-D
Green Lantern :-)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules :-)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2D) :-)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D) :-)
Thor :-/ meh
Priest :-)
Hop :-)
Insidious :-D
Gnomeo & Juliet :-D
Paul :-D
The Adjustment Bureau :-)
Rango :-D
The Rite :-/ meh
True Grit :-D
The Green Hornet :-/ meh
Season of the Witch :-(