Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Wet dog = YUCK!!!

I feel like I have a messy kid.

Well, I kind of do--his name is Beesley and he has 4 legs and a tail.

In preparation for our Utah trip tomorrow (and hour upon hour in a cramped car with three adults and a dog), I decided to give him a bath tonight. My house now REEKS of wet dog, laundry and bread. The last two aren't too bad, but in combination with the wet dog, I'm seriously considering sleeping in my car.

Next time around: I'm getting a hairless dog. Or, they'll be shaved every week.

Too bad he's cute all wet, eh?

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Malena vs. Motivation

There are some days when I feel SO GOOD! and I'm pretty positive I can take on the world. I feel like that right now.

But then, I get discouraged thinking of all the dozens and dozens of times I've failed and just how miserable of a climb this whole journey is going to be.

Is it realistic to be 100% positive 100% of the time? No.

Can I bottle up how I feel right now and take a peek into the full jar later when I'm on the verge of giving up and throwing my emotions into a large order of french fries? I wish.

I need to figure out a way to do just that.

Any suggestions?

Monday, March 29, 2010

Homesick

I miss my family.




I never thought I'd say it, but I'm HOMESICK!

Off to Utah in 3 days...

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Mantras

One day at a time.

I've been repeating it for nearly 2 months now. Why?

During one of my many weight-loss endeavors, I attended a 12 week course through a local hospital run by a licensed psychologist. One of the first things we discussed was the importance of mantras--phrases you repeat to yourself subconsciously. The hope is, through the literal beating of the phrase into your head, that it'll eventually sink in. A lot of people practice this for such things as boosting self-esteem, breaking bad habits, and for me, it's to stop me from crashing and losing hope.

So, on a day like today, where I just feel *blah*, I ate too much, and I had a severe lack of motivation, I just keep repeating to myself: Take it all one day at a time. There is no failure. There are no let downs because you get to start all over again tomorrow.


A new day has come :) And it will be better than yesterday.


Friday, March 26. I swear!

It's 1:15am on Saturday, but I haven't had a spare minute to write my blog yet! This counts as Friday's blog :D I went out with some girl friends tonight for a much needed dinner/movie/gab session. Oh, how I love getting out of the house!

The work news is that I'm getting a promotion, of sorts. My boss told me yesterday that he and I are moving to a different floor to start an exclusive department (my "department" has always been obsorbed by other, larger departments, me being the head, and several random employees acting as my back-ups). The hope is to hire a third person to help us, but for now, we get to do allllll the work. I'm excited and terrified at the same time.

Remember
this blog? I started on Monday and I'm doing pretty well. So far I've gone on a 30 minute (actually 28 minute) bike ride, walked Beesley to the park, cleaned my room for 15 mintues, and today, I read an uplifting article. Here it is!

Is it a coincidence that when I'm doing the things I'm supposed to be doing (IE: work), amazing opportunities come into my life? I think not :)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

What a day!

I don't think I've ever had a day where I've gone through such a scope of emotions.

The day started off fine, but something odd happened at work and I was in a serious panic for almost the rest of the day.

I might have a big problem with overreacting. It was horrible!

Come to find out, my agony was all in vain. Something REALLY good happened today (but I can't tell you until tomorrow!)

I'm SO exhausted and I still haven't finished the "task" I drew today: clean my room for 15 mintues.

More to come tomorrow :)

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

An idle mind is the devil's workshop

Did I ever explain why I started this blog?

One reason was the fact that I love getting comments, praise, and suggestions from everyone, so thank you to those who have faithfully commented! Especially Anaise, who, despite the fact that she's the mother of 5 (6? 7?) girls, she still finds the time to comment, every day.

My main reason is boredom.


"Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. "
--Voltaire

If I have a goal--writing a daily blog--then I have something to focus on to distract me from the things I have trouble controlling. I can control how, when, and why I blog and in return I get a chunk of my day devoted to something uplifting and positive instead of sitting on my duff doing nothing.

So, thank you again for stopping by and aiding in my progression.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

My behavior style

This morning I spent over 2 hours in a mentor meeting at work. What did I learn?

I'm a control freak! (Shut up Kelly)

Not just any control freak, but more specifically my "behavior style" is that of an owl. Characteristics of a (human) owl are we are detail-oriented, organized, we love facts, figures, and accuracy, we listen well and remember everything, we don't tolerate change well, need validation in everything we do, and are unemotional.

It's scary how true that all is in my work life.

What does this mean?

It means I finally realize why work has been so crappy lately. I got moved to a new office 6 months ago, and it's been weird ever since. I'm out of my element. I have a new supervisor who I'm not used to, I had to change up my daily routine, and my desk isn't quite organized the way I'd like it.

I may not be able to solve all of my problems in life, but it's nice to get insight sometimes about why I am the way I am. My tendancy is to treat other people like they're also "owls", but that's not the case. I believe that identifying my weaknesses will only help me do better and succeed in the way I used to.

Click
here to take your own behavioral style test. (It's free provided you enter in a valid email address) It's not the exact same as the one I took at work, but maybe you can find out a little bit about yourself, too :)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Lessons from the real doctor

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer
yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know
what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
~Dr. Seuss

I wish I could quote this whole book because it's so great! It's amazing how you can learn more from 10 pages of a child's book than you can learn from a brick-sized adult novel.

I've been focusing on my confidence lately. I used to have so much of it, but for whatever reason, I find myself constantly pushing negative thoughts through my mind and putting myself and others down. I think it all stems from a lack of confidence and self-worth.

My hope is to overcome some doubts and major issues I have in regards to my job and my social life.

How do I accomplish this?

First, I'm going to surround myself with positive people only.

Second, nothing negative is allowed to come out of my mouth.

Third, I'm not really sure yet. Let me master the first two first :)

Time for bed. I wish I had a copy of "Oh, the places you'll go!" to read for my bedtime story!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Move along

I have to share one of my favorite songs. This song has served many purposes in the few years since it was released. Not only is it my favorite work-out song (I love upbeat songs), but it has a fairly good message--a message that I've needed to hear all week.

Despite the fact that it's Sunday (for those of you that are still awake), go ahead and give it a listen.

It's a new week. Whatever wrong turns I made this past week I now have a chance to correct. Moving along is all I can do, and boy, am I looking forward to it!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

A woman's quest for good BBQ

Today was TORTURE. It all began last night...

My work is in downtown Chandler where several big events are held each year, one of them being the 1st Annual BBQ Cook-Off. For the last hour of work, all the vendors started setting up so they could cook through the night.

When I arrived at work this morning, I knew I was in trouble. The smell of BBQ was overwhelming once I stepped out of my car. Unfortunately, my desk is right next to a window and I had to spend 4 GRUESOME hours watching hundreds and hundreds of patrons walk by the booths of amazing smelling BBQ ribs, brisket, and chicken. All I had to do was make it to 1:00 and then it was my turn to partake of the delicious animals I was watching everyone else devour! At one point I even put up a sign on my window that said "Feed Me! Please?"

My friend Kelly met me at my work at 1:00 and we stood in a ridiculously long line (a lot longer than I had expected!) to get into the event. About 20 minutes in and about 20 people away from the entrance, they announced...THEY HAD RUN OUT OF FOOD! They were still letting people in, but most vendors were running out. What the heck!!! I was devastated. After hours of torture, I didn't even get a single bite of food. The worst part was, the even was supposed to go on for another 7+ hours.

Apparently Phoenix Metro is starved for good BBQ! I hope next year they plan ahead, and I will plan to NOT work :)

The quest for good BBQ continues...

On a happier note, I went to the Phoenix Coyotes NHL game and got to sit in a suite next to Alice Cooper. The game was AWESOME! Phoenix won in double OT!

Friday, March 19, 2010

I luff scruff!

My name is Malena and I love scruffy men.

There. I said it!

I saw Bounty Hunter tonight. The only part I liked about it was the fact that Gerard Butler had scruff. Oh man! I love it!

Here are my favorite celebrity scruffs:
Gerard Butler--Bounty Hunter

Matthew Goode--Leap Year

And my ALL TIME favorite celebrity scruffer, John Krasinski--The Office.


I bet if you put scruff on Donald Trump, he'd be a good looking man, too!
I'm off to dreamland. I bet you know who'll be in them tonight!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Bread craze!

Yesterday I pulled out my dusty bread maker and made a DELICIOUS loaf of whole wheat bread! There is no way the bread you buy in the store can be good for you, considering it can sit in your fridge for months and never go bad. My solution? Do it myself!

Isn't she a beauty?! :D

Here's the super easy recipe:

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package bread machine yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt

I usually add 2 T honey, too.

Place the water, sugar and yeast in the pan of the bread machine. Let the yeast dissolve and foam for 10 minutes. Add the oil, flour, honey and salt to the yeast. Select Wheat Bread setting, and press Start.

Yield 1 - 1 1/2 lb. loaf

Enjoy! :)

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Bee boxes

I stumbled upon a local farm co-op that sells boxes of produce to the community each week. You get to pick your location (there are literally hundreds in my area alone), and time of pick-up and you get this box FULL of amazingly good fruit and veggies!

I picked up my first box yesterday. I got:
5 pound bag of potatoes
2 artichokes
2 zucchini
6 tomatoes
1 package celery
1 head romaine lettuce
2 cantaloupes
6 apples
1 box strawberries
1 box blackberries
5 bananas

I'm so dang excited! I love that this will entice me to eat triple the amount of fresh (and local!) fruits and veggies.

I just had to share :)

www.greenbeeproduce.com

They deliver to Arizona and Utah. If you're in one of these locations and don't have a pick-up location near you, you can become a host.

/end shameless plug :D

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Oregon!

Thanks everyone (Anaise--who I think is the only one still left :D) for your patience. I called in sick to work today and got some much needed rest. I feel 90% better!

Per Anaise's request, here are some of the shots I got in Oregon.

The Anderson family, according to Taylor: (notice Bente's middle name is spelled "Louyz" (should be Louise) and Alice's middle name is spelled "Mery" (should be Marie)!)


The Andy Clan. I promise, they are all a lot happier than they look! :)


Taylor helping make my first ever apple pie!


All the kids. Alice looks SO happy!


Taylor wearing Auntie Malena's glasses

Alice displaying the classic Anderson deer-caught-in-the-headlights look!

Mini Lindsay

Cutie Patootie all ready for church!

Feeding Alice some Sunday brunch. Yummm!!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Sorry bloggers...

I've been sick all day and I'm completely beat. I had to force myself to get up and write this blog, so the blog all about my trip to Oregon is going to have to wait one more day.

Until next time...

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Back in AZ tomorrow...

Just stopping by to say I'll be back tomorrow to post a REAL blog :)

It's 11:15 and I'm TIRED and flying back to Arizona tomorrow.

Adios for now!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Meet Alice!

Here's my new niece, Alice. I met her for the first time today!









Anaise, I'll post pictures of Bente' and Taylor at the end of the day tomorrow :)

Friday, March 12, 2010

Greetings from Oregon!

I flew to Bend, Oregon today to see my brother and his family. My sister-in-law had their third child in October and this is my first time meeting her! Unfortunately she's in California until tomorrow, but I did get to spend time with my niece and nephew, Bente' and Taylor.

I don't know how much time I'll have to blog while I'm here, but I thought I'd share a picture Taylor drew which had me in stitches. Enjoy!




P.S. Is that a cat or a dog? ;)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Brief moments of inspiration

I am a genius.

One of the things I struggle with the most is the basics of dieting--drink 64 oz. of water a day, exercise 60 minutes a day, eat 5 fruits/veggies a day, etc. If I had to do EACH of these every single day for the rest of my life, I might die of fruit overdose.

Today, I came up with a BRILLIANT plan to try to incorporate each of these things into my daily life.

I made a list of things I want to start doing daily or weekly, and each morning, I pick one thing out of a jar. For that entire day, I must focus 100% on the goal. My hope is I can start to enjoy these activities, so I don't feel obligated and guilty when I DON'T do them. No more intimidation of never living up to the 10,583 standards dieters are subject to!

Here's my list so far:
  • Drink 64 oz. of water
  • Take Beesley on a 30 minute walk
  • Walk to the park and play fetch with Beesley
  • Take Beesley to the dog park
  • Use treadmill while watching one episode of L & O:SVU (I have 89 episodes on my DVR) :D
  • Clean house for 3-15 minute intervals
  • Eat 5 different fruits
  • Eat 5 different veggies
  • Reward day! Indulge in one craving.
  • Write TWO blogs in one day
  • Go for a half hour bike ride
  • Do something REALLY nice for someone
  • No sugar ALL day!
  • Go vegetarian!
  • Try a new recipe
  • Read an uplifting article (conference talks!)
  • Clean the kitchen spotless!

Can anyone think of anything else I should add? Comments are much appreciated!

By the way, YOU ALL ROCK!

Love, Me.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Goals

I've always secretly been afraid of setting goals. I mean, I've set goals before, but most of the time it's just because I have good intentions, but have no real desire to meet them. Today, that all changed.

Amidst workplace boredom and thousands of supportive electronic "friends" (
www.sparkpeople.com), I set my first real goal:

Lose 55 pounds by 12/31!

An easily attainable goal, some might say, but to me, it's going to be the hardest thing I ever do.

Lucky for all my readers, you get to witness it--every step of the way.

Step one: Get my butt in gear and start becoming active! As soon as I'm done writing this I'm going to go take Beesley on a walk!

Back blogging:
Who is my mystery commentator? You said you love my blog, but I don't know who you are! By the way, I love you more.
Anaise gets the coolest cousin award--she's commented on my blog every day this week! I'm sure your sick baby appreciates you taking time out to comment on my blog! :D

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Are you free for dinner tonight?

For the married crowd, if you could offer the world one piece of advice when it comes to the art of seeking that special someone, what would it be?

While I'm not persuing and have not actually been in an established relationship before, I feel like I sometimes know more about life than the average active dater.

Here is what I've learned by observation:
* Do not sit by your phone and wait for his/her call (or text) and pick-up on the first ring. This is a sign of desperation. To go along with that, do not call, text, email, stop by and visit 25 times in a day. This is creepy.
* If he/she doesn't have some sort of contact with you every 30 seconds, DO NOT READ INTO IT!
* If you haven't had a date in 10 years, do not blame the other sex. Men (or women) do not conspire to make your life miserable. If your usual tactics do not work, it's time to change said tactics.
* Do not plan your wedding/children/the next 50 years together because you like him/her. Go with the flow and let things progress naturally. You cannot fantasize progress. 99.9% of the time things will not go as planned anyway.
* If you like someone and you're not sure if they like you back, ASK THEM OUT! Stewing over such things will only put stupid ideas in your head.
* If you're actively dating one person and you're not sure where you stand, FIGURE IT OUT! Stewing over such things will only put stupid ideas in your head.
* If you want to break things off with someone, DO IT! Stewing over such things will only put stupid ideas in your head.
* Stewing over anything will only put stupid ideas in your head.
* Games are for kids. Grow up and quit making rules about everything.

Did I miss anything?

I feel bad for the poor sucker who ends up with me :D

Bonus points go to the person who can guess where the title of this blog came from...

Monday, March 8, 2010

Cravings

How do you control cravings?

I'm doing REALLY well with my cravings (specifically fast food), but that doesn't mean things are going to be hunky-dory 24/7/the rest of my life. Eventually these cravings will creep back up on me, and I need to be 100% prepared.

For those of you (Aunt Judy!!) who have given up sugar and other crave-o-load substances, how did you do it?! Guide me, o wise blog followers...

Would do you think about doing a 48 (or so) hour detox? I'm looking for ANY suggestions...

P.S. My brother, Lindsay, is going to help me possibly set-up my own website for my blogs. Stay tuned :)

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Before and after...

I thought I'd share some before/after photos from my condo. It's been a while since I've talked about it!

Dining room

Before--storage?


After--cute enough to eat in!



Living room
Before--managed chaos

Before--clean and homey!

P.S. Why is it so %#@$^*& hard to upload pics on this stupid site? Do you know how long this entry took me to create?!!? TWO HOURS!!! Every time I upload a picture is messes up my spacing of the ENTIRE entry, so I have to start over. And, when I try to move a picture up or down, I can't drag it. I HATE IT!!! I've always had this problem, which is a big reason I didn't blog keep blogging before. I might switch to wordpress...maybe it'll help my blood pressure.

Has anyone one else run into these problems?!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Organic, or....

I've been having this recurring thought that I should start eating organic....

Do I really want to? Kinda...

Can I afford it? Absolutely not!

Is it a phase? Probably, considering my whole life is a series of odd phases :)

I even found farm co-ops in the area--relatively cheap!

What do you think? Can I pull it off? I think watching Food, Inc. made me really see the harm I was doing to my body by eating fast food, processed, and chemically enhanced food. I'm finding it hard to stomach certain foods these days. The other day I bought a bag of dried apricots from Fresh & Easy and upon reading the label I saw Sulfur Dioxide...what the heck is that?! Do I really need to be putting some kind of perserving agent into my body unnecessarily?

Please discuss...

Friday, March 5, 2010

Progress report

1,650
90.2
48
25
10
3.2

1,650 = the number of calories I'm allowed to eat in a day
90.2 = the number of miles I've biked to and from work
48 = the average number of raw almonds I consume in one day
25 = the number of days I've gone without filling up my gas tank
10 = how I'd rate my day today, out of 10
3.2 = the pounds I've lost since I started riding my bike to work

I hope you're all having a fabulous day, because I sure am! No work for 2 whole days!!!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Coming soon: Mach 75!

I have way too much time to think at work. It's really affecting the kooky side of me. Today, as I was eating grapes out of a Zip-lock double zipper bag, I thought to myself, why the heck does this bag have a double zipper?! Seriously. Maybe if you guys had made the first zipper more sturdy, you wouldn't have a need to add a second one! Watch out, these killer grapes might escape and run rampant and terrorize Phoenix! I'm pretty sure my grapes don't run the risk of breaking the already too-thick bag. Sure, these bags might be great for meat, but if you really need two zippers to hold your meat in the bag, you should probably think about buying less vicious carcasses. (I'm pretty sure I could have added a "that's what she said" in there somewhere, but I shall refrain)

I bought some batteries the other day and with them I got a bonus Mach5 razor. What disposable razors have to do with batteries in the first place is beyond me. Anyway, this razor, true to its name had 5 BLADES. Really?! Apparently 4 blades just doesn't cut it--literally. Are there razors with more than 5 blades? I wouldn't be surprised. What genius over at the razor factory is going to invent the next new, state of the art razor?!
Why don't they just invent a razor with 75 blades where you can press it against your leg and move it up just one millimeter, and PRESTO! your leg is as smooth as the day you were born.

I should be an inventor, I tell ya!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Turning that frown upside-down

You all know how miserable I've been lately (some more than others), and I try to avoid the things that trigger my depressive moods, such as being alone, talking negative, etc. These things work for a while, but that mood always creeps back up to me. Until yesterday.

I had the opportunity to do something nice for someone. A simple, thoughtful act. Within seconds my good mood doubled tripled quadrupled! I was astounded at how FAST I was able to kill that bad spirit and begin riding a high that has lasted me more than 24 hours.

Did I move mountains? No. Did it change the life of the person who I helped? Probably not. But it did change my life in a small way? Absolutely, yes.

I challenge you to do something nice for someone else this week. It doesn't have to be life changing. But, who knows. Maybe it really will change the life of the person most important--you!



Back blog:
I appreciate all of your comments even more than you can imagine. I wish I knew how to thank you all properly, but I'm at a loss for words when I read all the kind things you guys write to me! Your love is what keeps me going :)

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Someone is watching out for me...

I had a rough night last night. I really don't know what it was, but I just needed a good cry, I think. Thanks to my mom for being the unfortunate saint at the other end of the line as she listened to me ramble unintelligible sentences.

I've been working on seeing a counselor for months now, and I was at my wit's end. In an effort to try to reach one to schedule an appointment with (none of the previous inquiries had bothered to return my call), I, very much like a lunatic, began dialing any number I could find off the list of insurance approved psychiatrists. I left voicemail after voicemail each click of the phone making my heart sink even more at the though that, again, one would just brush me off.

I dialed the number of one psychiatrist whom shares my last name, and at 11:00 at night, I hear a "Hello?"

Finally. Someone cared.

She didn't let me get off that phone call for nearly 40 minutes. I left with her office number, cell number, and even her fax number and a promise, to be there, waiting for me at 6:00 on Wednesday.

I can't express how grateful I am that someone finally took the initiative to hear me out and talk to me like a human being. With every ignored call a literal slap in the face, I'm glad someone was there to pick me up.

Never underestimate the effect you have on someone in need.

Take the inititave and be that kind of person for someone else. There is nothing more angelic.

Monday, March 1, 2010

The Buried Blog

What do you want to do before you die?

Anyone ever watched The Buried Life on MTV? It's a relatively new show about a group of young men who made a list and have set out on a quest to fulfill everything they want to do before they die.

I'm sure every one of us have set goals of things we want to accomplish throughout our lifetime, and besides the standard responses like "get married" and "have kids" (both of which I want to do), what do you REALLY want to do before you die?

Here's my top 5:
1: Visit all 50 states (Sara, I'm so envious of you...)
2: Go to an Arizona Cardinals game
3: Live in New York City
4: Get a stamp in my passport
5: Be an inspiration to others

What's your top 5?

Check out this tear-jerking video. I cry every time I watch it!