Thankful.

I am so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life! I look back on a year ago today, and realize what a shitty place I was in last year compared to this year. I am in a healthy relationship with the greatest guy in the world, I have a new job, and I love my friends to death (ok, that hasn't changed!)

I had an amazing birthday weekend. We rented a jet-ski and went camping in the mountains at Green Mtn. Reservoir. I got to try water-skiing (failed, miserably) and tubing. I'm still pretty jacked up from tubing and getting thrown around like a rag doll. Then, when we got back to Denver last night, me, Matt and some of his friends went to see a comedy show downtown then we got bday cheesecake @ the cheesecake factory. He is so amazing!!

I'm heading home to Chicago in a few days. I'm so excited! I just can't make sure I gain all this weight back. But, I am going to try my hardest to bring Matt back some good Chicago food. I might offend some people on the plane but I really want him to try white castle and deep dish! ha!

I gotta enjoy my last week of vacation til I head back into the real world next week..yikes!

Big news!

I got a job! I will be working as a data integrity analyst up in Louisville. A recruiter found me for the position early last week, and I interviewed last Friday. Got the offer yesterday! The only downside is the commute each way. It's almost up to Boulder about 20 miles each way, but I don't care..Louisville is GORGEOUS, and it was also voted the best "Small town" to live in by CNN Money. It's situated right up against the flatirons and totally beautiful.

They have a gym in the building, and it's casual dress! I can wear jeans each day if I want. They are really laid back, my kind of office. Just looking forward to working again. I have the rest of July off, and I start August 4th. I get to just enjoy my last few weeks of "freedom"!!!! That means hiking, biking, and enjoying a Colorado summer as best as I can!

Tickets, and more tickets.

I don't know if this is karma catching up to me or what, but, I've had a superb driving record this past 5 years, until this year. Now, I will admit, I tend to drive fairly fast and I have a lead foot. But, I've always driven this way and never got caught. Until April. I was on my way to meet a friend to go snowboarding, and I was already running late. I didn't realize I was doing 15 over in a school zone, no less (damn you texting and driving!) So, there's speeding ticket #1-$130 and 2 points on my Drivers License.

Let me explain how the Colorado drivers licenses work out here. You are allowed a total of 12 points a year, and if you go over that, you will get your license revoked. However, a lot of times, if you pay your ticket within 20 days, the fees go down and the points go down to 2. So that's what I did. I was not happy to find out that you can't go to traffic school to get these tickets cleared off your driving record.

Ticket #2- I'm coming home from Matt's house at the beginning of June. Not paying ANY attention, whizzing by Coors field with Schnitzel in my lap at 40 mph. Apparently the speed limit is 25 here, to my dismay. So, I reluctantly pay my ticket within the 20 day window and another 2 pts on my license.

Ticket#3-this happened a little over a week since ticket #2. I went on a 9 day west coast road trip with a few girlfriends, and I got zapped doing 82 in a 65 in Elko, Nevada. Mind you, I-80 has been set at 75 mph THE ENTIRE WAY. Til that is, we get to the big "city" of Elko where it then drops down to 65. Since I got this ticket in NV, it doesn't count against my points, and it's $107 and I have until August to pay.

Let me also count how many street cleaning tickets I have gotten-I think I have a total of 4 @ $25 a pop. I've had to cough up over $300 in ticket fines over the past 2 months. This is insane. But, I have noone to blame but myself for all of this. I at least am cautious of my surroundings and I do at most 5 over the speed limit now. It only took me 3 speeding tickets to finally do this, but better late than never I guess.

I be workin' on my fitness.

So with having a ton of time on my hands what with not working and all, I decided to start upping my gym workouts. And that I have done, and more. I lift on M/W/F, and I also do core workouts every day. I try to squeeze in at least 30 minutes of cardio every day in addition to that. I play soccer on Wednesday evenings as well. I just signed up for Denver Boot Camp last week and I had my first session yesterday at 6 am. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I was doing things I don't normally do-mountain climbers, push-ups, and lunges, etc. My glutes are feeling it today! I plan on doing that 3x a week, in addition to strength training at the gym, til the end of August.

I finally started to see results. My "skinny bermudas" which I could not even button last summer now fit me like a glove. I'm seeing more definition in my arms. I'm able to lift more weight now, and my legs are strong. I'm training for the Denver Half Marathon in October, so that will be later in the summer. I am doing the Steamboat triathlon relay with my friends this August-I will be doing the running, of course. I ran a 5k last week, and about died. So I have a long ways to go, but I have some time. In total I have lost 9 lbs. Yes, it is not a large amount, but I'm on the smaller side as is, and that is all the weight I put on last summer. Ideally I would like to be down to 115 lbs, but I would be happy at 120.

I love feeling good and eating healthy. It has taken me awhile to get to eating healthy consistently, and it is tough when my boyfriend doesn't eat well or exercise. Of course, I have my off days, but as long as I continue to work out like I have been I won't feel guilty. I started eating more veggies, and I'm addicted to the Morningstar veggie burgers and buffalo wings! I still eat meat of course, but I don't eat nearly as much as I used to. If I do, it's usually skinless chicken breasts. The hardest thing was for me to stop eating bacon! I love Amy's brand frozen meals as well. They're a good quick alternative when I don't feel like cooking.

I just hope I can keep these good habits up, even when I return to work.

New blog.

Well, it seems as if Livejournal is dying a slow death (ie like Myspace), so here I am. I realized I can connect this blog with my google account, and, well, I'm a google whore so I'm sold.

So, hello. I don't really have much substantial information to post as of late, I am still unemployed, but still applying and sending out my resume all over the place. The job market was hit especially hard here and I'm having a hell of a time trying to find something. I am at least getting unemployment, so I hope to be employed by the end of the summer.

I'll be back in Chicago at the end of next month. Hooray! One of my good friends is getting married so I'm making a week trip out of it. I can't wait to be home again-it's been since Xmas. I'm looking forward to seeing my family, friends, and gorging the hell outta some Chicago food.