Beauty is in the eye...

This week's major goal-setting had to do with getting my workout and health-conscious eating on track. This was a great week and I was introduced to a new iPhone app along the way too!

MyFitnessPal is a wonderful tool I have used to stay aware of what I am eating. I answered some question about my current weight, lifestyle and goals (as well as a healthy timeline for the goals) and it calculates my approximate daily caloric intake to meet my goals.

HERE COMES THE BEST PART!

MyFitnessPal has a database of millions of food items from restaurants and grocery stores, as well as any grocery item you could think of. It also reads barcodes and pulls up the exact item you have purchased to eat/drink.

Only eat half of your EasyMac? Not a problem!! The program let's you enter how many servings you consumed.

Can't pull the item up but you have the nutritional info? Just enter the amount under "Quick Calories."

When you're done with your daily workout, just look it up under "Cardio" or "Strength" workouts. If you're running, it give you various speeds and "mph" measurements. The calories you've worked off are subtracted from your Daily Net Calories.

(I like this because if i don't have time to work out, I'm still able to look at how I can eat that day to stay on track to my goals!)

The most encouraging part: At the end of the day, you "close out" your food dairy and it gives you some (hopefully good) news: "Congrats! If every day is like today, you will weigh ______ by your goal date!"

Being able to see what I'm working on and know my progress is worth the effort makes me want to stick with this life-style changing plan.

I know I've only lost one pound this week, if that, but I can't help feeling like a total hottie when I get home from my run. I'm working hard and persevering. That's worth it all.

Book Review - "Quitter" by Jon Acuff

My first book was a good book. I will say, it was a poor choice on my part to choose this as my first read of the project. As an avid reader, a shelf full of classics beckoned me as a began this book. I chose to start with this book because I reasoned any book a pre-ordered must be rather pertinent to me, so I put it first on the shelf.

If you are currently in a job or career that you dred getting up for in the morning, this book is for you. If you have a passion for something you do on the weekends or evenings after work, this book is for you. If you've always wondered why you can't do something you love (that you are also GREAT at) for the rest of your life, this book is for.

When I was months away from graduation, I answered Jon's call for people that considered them "I'm....but..." people. I wrote and told him "I'm a college student, but I want to travel." Not exactly the answer he was looking for, but a dream none the less.

Jon has compiled the stories of his readers and friends, as well as a large section of his own experiences, on the subject of "closing the gap between your day job & your dream job." Because I am in what I know is only a temporary day job right while I am looking for future dream jobs, I didn't find this book as applicable as I thought I might. Rather than saying, "Oh, I feel relieved that someone else out there feels trapped in their day job," I felt like I was reading the advice of other people more experienced in the work field. I was able to read and say, "I will not put myself in a position that I hate to get out of bed every day for work. I will carefully choose a career that I can find joy in on a daily basis. I want a job that I am passionate about."

I would suggest this book to anyone who is asking the quesstions I mentioned above. I would also suggest this to anyone who, like me, is afraid of the career world. This book will not soothe your fears but equip you with realistic advice on how to enter the "grown up" world of day jobs, careers, and dream jobs.

Stay posted. The next 2 books are rather exciting. :)

Frozen Yogurt & Peaceful Salutations

Today, I spent the afternoon shopping and eating frozen yogurt with Sarah. We watched a documentary and a romance film. We went grocery shopping.

And said, "Guys suck. They are so dumb!" over and over again.

I have yet again learned the lesson of getting too close to someone before they deserve it. I didn't fall in love or anything, but I had those really long heartfelt conversations with someone that didn't deserve to know anything about my heart yet. I told secrets I should have kept to myself and shared little inside jokes that I should have waited for.

If you would have asked me at fifteen, I would have told you I would have had men (as well as love, marriage, sex, and my career) figured out by the age of twenty-two. It just seemed so obvious when I was in high school that life would make enormous sense when I was walking about this planet proudly displaying my college degree. Today, nothing seemed further from the truth. Rather than crying to my sister and chatting with my friends on AIM about my awful encounter, I sat at my best friends house and listed good reasons to get over it and enjoy my summer/life with a lesson learned behind me.

What I realized today was not a lesson learned, but an epiphany of a moral quality that I have grown into. I didn't wish him anything negative. I actually said, "I'm trying not to be angry, because I want you to have what makes you happy. Just trying to deal in my own way, ya know?" Re-playing those words in my head, today is not a failure but a monumental success. I have grown away from the "I hate men" attitude I once held when things didn't go the way I imagined them and have realized I have a long life ahead of me. I took it all with a grain of salt and wished him well in future endeavors, though they would not involve me.

Here's to lessons learned. Here's to growing up. Here's to letting go of the things that don't bring us joy and moving towards a more complete fullfilling life.

Most of all, here is to going to bed with a peaceful heart and mind.