Disturbing Stats

This morning, I hit the gym at 6 am. Since bootcamp ended a few months ago, I try to stay in the routine and go to the gym before work. It is so much nicer to have your workout complete when you get home from work. [Of course, it only really happens about 2-3 times a week, as opposed to 5 times a week during bootcamp.] It is just so hard to get up that early...

To the actual point of my post though... While I was filling up my water bottle, there was a sign on the wall which said:

"Three in four adults will be overweight by the year 2020"

Say what?! Now, I realize that the "statistic" that was hanging from the wall at LA Fitness might not be the most accurate place to get my information from, but it still shocked me. I cannot believe it! Of all the workout shows, food shows, health blogs and shocking statistics that you read about in newspapers in magazines, you would think we would be moving away from those terrifying statistics.

We'll kick your ass.

Now, I'm certinaly not saying that I am the picture of perfect health and fitness, but I definitely try to eat healthy and work out enough to burn off my weekend slip ups (aka booze). I enjoy exercising and try to make my own lunches and dinners during the week, and save the restaurant calories for the weekend. This wasn't always the case though. As this probably happened to many of you, I was a victim of the dreaded Freshman Fifteen (ok, maybe even more, who knows.) As a freshman, I came down with Mono during the first semester of college. My doctor put me on heavy meds, and told me that I couldn't exert myself for three months. Of course, I was back to normal after only a month or so, but I also had grown lazy in this time and it was very hard to get back into exercising on a regular basis. Combine that with the greasy all-you-can-eat food in our dining halls, late night drunk eating, lots of beer, and voila! Fat kid central. After a long conversation with my brave brother who ever so gently told me that I needed to take control of myself (while I cried like a baby because I knew it was true) it really hit me! You mean, other people have noticed it too? How crazy! It really took until my post-college life to get to the happy weight I'm at now, because let's face it: college has WAY too many temptations. After my freshman year, I really got serious about my eating, cut down on the booze, and hit the gym more often.

Eat your spinach and work those muscles!

The other day, my freshman roommate (we're still friends today) randomly sent me old pictures to reminisce on the good ol' days. I immediately X'd out of them, and felt instantly ashamed that I had let myself go like that. That was my serious wake up call, to never let myself get back to that weight again. [I think I'll spare myself the embarrassment of posting any "before" shots, because you guys get the idea.] Reading that statistic at the gym this morning made me realize how easy it really is to let yourself go. Being healthy really is a life changing decision, and something I constantly work on. I realize now that you have to allow yourself to splurge sometimes, and force yourself to be disciplined other times. You have to get your ass off the couch, stop watching Jillian Michaels help others lose weight, and actually exercise yourself! I am so much happier now than I was back in freshman year of college, so it is worth the work to me!

I really hope that something changes in the next 10 years, so that shocking statistic doesn't become a reality...

Awards.. yay!

A couple of weeks ago, I received my very first blog awards! I was so pleased, but also so busy and didn't have time to follow through with the commitments that come along with getting an award. I'm supposed to post it and chat about myself, but I am the worst blogger ever and haven't done it yet! So I'm going to do it today. Better late than never, right? I received the versatile blogger award from Atlanta Yankee Belle:

Yay! So now I have to write 7 things about myself. If you guys remember, I basically did this on my own a couple of weeks ago, when I wrote 25 things about myself, so now I'm just going to have to rack my brain and think of 7 more:

1. I am very excited, because tomorrow I am heading to Winston-Salem for my cousin's wedding. My mom's side of the family is very close, but we are scattered around the east coast, so it will also be a family reunion!
2. I love traveling, and lived in Spain for a couple of months when I was in college. I hope to go back in the near future, and visit some other countries that I haven't seen before!
3. I have always wanted to be on Oprah's Favorite Things Episode. That woman gives away so much stuff... did you hear about her australia trip giveaway the other day? Yeesh.
4. If I could only choose one article of clothing/accessories to buy, it would be shoes. I love shoes...
5. I have a bad habit of buying Groupons to various restaurants, just so I can try them out. The savings aren't monumental, but I tell myself they are anyways.
6. I am dying for fall to officially arrive. Football is here, now we just need the temperature to drop about 15 degrees, so I can start wearing boots and cute blazers!
7. I'm a movie junkie. I love going to the movies (depsite the ridiculous cost), and I love renting them. Red Box is the way to go these days.

ALSO, I was tagged by Pearls, Curls and a Southern Girl to answer these 8 questions:

1. What's your favorite vacation you've been on? My family took a trip to Italy when I was in college. We ate everything in site, drank a ton of wine, and saw everything there is to see. It was fabulous!

2. What's your best memory of college? My 22nd birthday. I was the oldest of my friends, so for my 21st, only a few could take me out (with fake ids). So when I turned 22, I had practically 20+ friends from my sorority out with me in downtown Clemson. It was so much fun!

3. If you could go to dinner with someone famous, who would it be? This is really hard... How about the cast of Modern Family? I could go for a good laugh! 

4. What's your biggest achievement? Buying a condo, all on my own!

5. What TV show would you want to make a guest appearance on? I think I answered that above, Oprah of course! I want the free goodies!! 

6. What are you most looking forward to this year? For the rest of the year: the two weddings we have left, a girl trip to Clemson, holidays with my family, seeing all of my relatives this weekend, and spending time with my boyfriend in Atlanta :)

7. What's your biggest dream in life?To be successful in my career and happy in life. Cliche, I know.

8. If you won the lottery, what would be your biggest splurge? The responsible part of me would pay off my mortgage, and then the fun side of me would take a LONG vacation around the world!

Thanks for the tags, girls!! I'll report back to everyone after my Winston Salem trip with lots of picures!

Quarter Century Fun (not crisis!)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I turned the big 2-5 last week! It was a great three day celebration (yes, three days! I'm so lucky!) that started out with some drinks and games with my parents at Ormsby's. Every year, they let us choose a restaurant to go to for our birthdays, and this year I thought something more low key and laid back would be the best bet. So, I went for the easy choice - Ormsby's! I've posted about it before, so I'll spare any redundancy.

On Friday, the bf surprised me to dinner at Kyma (pronounced Kee-Mah - who knew?). Kyma is a fantastic greek restaurant on Piedmont, that is part of the Buckhead Life Restaurants and is very delicious. We did the sampler special, where you get to choose a bunch of small plates to share between two people. We ordered absolutely delicious items, such as grilled octopus, short ribs, tuna tartare, tomato salad and a bunch of spreads and dips. Everything had a greek flair that was so amazing and filling. Of course, I failed to take any pictures, but I do have a picture of the shoes I wore for my shoe obsessed readers! I love them...

I also took a picture of my dessert, that the waiter and my bf forced on me despite the fact that I was busting out of my dress from too much awesome food!! The dessert was light and tasty though, the perfect bday dessert.

On Saturday, there was a German Bierfest going on in downtown Atlanta. Since I love beerfests, and this just happened to be the day after my birthday, we figured what better way to celebrate than gathering friends here? So most of my friends who were in town met us all down at Woodruff park and drank and partied all day in fantastic weather. {Well, except for the 5 minute monsoon which caused everyone to run for cover. Seriously, after 5 min the sun was shining again... }Here's a few pics of the great day!

We made pretzel necklaces to snack on all day!

One of my besties drove down from Greenville just for me!

Snack time! Pretzels and brats - perfect beerfest food

Felt like taking a picture of this beerfest chick and her crazy shoes

My wonderful bf planned the whole thing!

So many people!

We tried to frown since our pretzels were almost gone, but we were laughing instead!

Overall it was a great birthday! After beerfest, a few brave souls decided to continue the night at RiRa in midtown. I love that place!

ps I also was very excited to get a GPS for my birthday (yes, I now have entered the 21st century). As my friend Sallie put it, "I don't know how you've survived living in Atlanta without one!" Me either Sallie, me either.

25 Things you don't know about me...

In honor of my 25th birthday (which is Friday!), I thought I would do something fun and different!

Us Weekly readers out there, you know that section where the famous person writes the column, 25 Things You Don't Know about Me? Well, I'm not famous, but I thought I would give it a shot! Let's see if I can even come up with 25 interesting things....

Who, moi?

1. I will watch (and usually love) almost any chick flick out there. No matter how cheesy or predictable they are, they always seem to entertain me. {i.e. 27 Dresses, Step Up, Two Weeks Notice etc...}

2. I blush really easily. For some reason, certain things make me turn red for no reason at all. Of course, people bring it to my attention, and the red face only gets worse...

3. I will eat just about anything, except mushrooms. Blech!

4. I have my Clemson acceptance letter framed at my parents' house. Getting that letter was one of the happiest days of my life, since it was my first choice!

5. I came up with the name Cooper for my parents' dog. I thought of it because he is white, and Anderson Cooper's hair is white...Random, I know.

You handsome little devil

6. The first cd I ever purchased was Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill. I thought I was so cool because it was full of curse words.

7. I have a slight phobia of waterskiing, ever since I took a nasty spill in high school. I've gone a few times since then, but people have to basically force me.

8. One of my favorite things to do is sit at the bar of a restaurant with my bf, trying new beers (I think he's a beer connoisseur!) and chatting. Totally low key, totally perfect.

Bf and myself at a wedding

9. I am a homeowner all on my own! I bought a condo in August 2009, and it was the scariest and best decision I've ever made.

10. I absolutely love having an older brother. Although we fought when we were growing up (what siblings don't?), at least it was never about clothes or boys. We also happen to be great friends and have a lot of fun together.

Bro and sis at Kentucky Derby

11. I was a cheerleader for 6 years from 6th grade through end of high school. I did competitive cheerleading along with cheering the sidelines at football games. I was the flyer, the person thrown in the air, and I'm sure it gave my parents a small heart attack every time I went in the air.

12. My mom's side of the family (18 people total) is very close even though we are scattered along the east coast. We used to rent giant beach houses in Myrtle Beach growing up, where we would play practical jokes on the parents and launch water balloons at people from the rooftop. Those are some of my greatest memories.

13. I was a summer baby and therefore the oldest of all of my friends. This meant first to drive, first to vote, first to drink legally... it definitely had its advantages :)

14. I was obsessed with the Spice Girls growing up. My dad (what a saint!) took me and two girlfriends to their concert, and nicknamed himself "Old Spice"

Spice up your life!

15. The one thing I would change about Atlanta is that I wish I could walk to more places. Things are too spaced out!

16. My friends are VERY important to me. I hate the fact that many of them live in different states than me.

My Clemson besties in Charleston in 2009

17. My freshman year of college, my roommate and I would always drink vanilla vodka with vanilla coke before going out. To this day, I cannot drink vanilla coke.

18. I love shopping, however, I have never ever had credit card debt. It makes me mad to hear about people who are thousands of dollars in debt because of shopping.

19. I love Subway. I think I could eat it every day.

Jared ate subway everyday.. Can't I?

20. When I was younger I had gum surgery in which they used banana flavored novicane. Now, any time I eat banana flavored candy or popcicles, my gums tingle a little. No joke.

21. I secretly wish I could be a food taster for my job. It would be so fun to eat at all the restaurants in Atlanta and write about them. I just have a strong feeling I would become obese in about a month.

22. I took spanish classes since 2nd grade, and I minored in it at Clemson. I also studied abroad in Spain, where we were scolded if we spoke english in the classroom. Could I speak it as easily now? Probably not.

23. I have a total girl crush on Reese Witherspoon. I think her and I could be friends, and I think she's adorable!

My new bff

24. I love people watching. Two great places to do so are Lenox Mall and Piedmont Park. There's always some interesting characters roaming around both of these.

25. Holy crap.. 25 is a lot of things to list about yourself. Glad I'm done with that!


Tell me some things about yourselves! Or create a blog post like mine. I love reading things like this!