Week in Review

DIET/NUTRITION: As most of you probably know I'm transitioning from a fairly high animal protein diet to a much more plant-based vegetable protein diet. This has been quite a challenging time for me for that reason. It's so incredibly hard to get that animal protein is the only protein thought out of my head. I keep trying but it's still there. I noticed myself doing it today. I thought about it at lunch when I had my Ezekiel tortilla spread with avocado, some homemade refried beans, salsa, and mixed greens. It was so delicious but I really thought I needed animal protein. But I didn't. But still there's that nagging thought in the back of my head. So weird how we program ourselves to think certain ways and then we have to reprogram ourselves when we receive new information.

The question is how do I feel with workouts? Well, I know I don't have the food thing down yet and I'm still learning because I don't feel fully fueled for a weight workout and tend to lose my mojo about 3/4 of the way through. I know I have a LOT to learn about eating this way so I'm just taking it easy and learning as I go.

PHYSICAL FITNESS: It's been a better week workout wise than last week was but I'm still not up to par. Just not feeling it to be honest. But the light at the end of the tunnel is that I ORDERED NEW INLINE SKATES!!!! Woot woot!!!! K2 Electra Custom Fit X-Training Inline Skates!

Aren't they pretty?

I love getting new skates and I haven't been in so long because I never got new wheels when mine broke. These are bigger wheels which means I'll be going even faster than I usually do. Time for some serious helmet and pad wearing! But I'll be happy getting on my skates at least once a week. Can't WAIT!!!!!

I only made it to yoga once this week. I did go on a really long hike last Sunday (3 1/2 hours is really long to me!). And my calves were sore and the backs of my knees and my feet hurt. But this was all worth it. Look at that view! BEAUTIFUL!!!!

View from the top

View from the lower trail (Los Liones Trail)

I did weights once and will do them again tonight. I also did a lot of prowler pushes on Wednesday. That was good, felt good. I got sick yesterday so I had to lay low for the rest of the day. I still don't know what THAT was about. Just weird. I feel totally normal today though. Odd.

REST/SLEEP: My rest has been more than enough. My sleep is still short though. I need to really get to bed earlier. I'm going to make that my Number One goal next week. It MUST be done so I'm functioning optimally for me.

MENTAL STATE: I need to disconnect from the digital world. Man! How many times have you read that on my blog? A lot I'm guessing! But I really need to. It's just hard for me to stop playing games and stop researching about vegetarian/vegan ways to eat, workout, new recipes, etc. But it must be done. Yesterday I pulled out my new journal and finally got to writing in it. I realized that I really need to write in there frequently. It's good to write stuff that no one's going to read and it's nice to have that quiet time.

WEEKEND PLANS: Hmmm...well, I guess I don't really have any. I just want to go to the farmers market, make a new recipe and hopefully see a movie. It's been a while since I've seen a movie so I think that should happen this weekend. Other than that, just the regular cleaning and relaxing. How about all of you? How did your week go? Any great weekend plans? Make it great!

And finally...I can take a breath!

*************MAJOR RAMBLING WARNING!!!!!*************

Wow! The past week was insanity and a true test of my patience. I passed...but NOT with flying colors! Just briefly, we were getting our carpet redone in our office. At the same time we were archiving patients that haven't been in for a long time. This created extra work for me and I ended up working on my day off for 11 1/2 hours and the next day for 11 hours. Then came Monday, when we got to see that the carpet was NOT the carpet it was supposed to be. NOT good. Not sure if we'll be getting that redone or not. And then we're on to Tuesday. Get into work. Lazy coworker hasn't picked up the messages on the voicemail. So I have to do that. Computer guy comes in to bridge one software with another. And he WIPES OUT OUR DATABASE!!!! Are you JOKING me?!? Luckily we had a backup from the night before but it takes about 6-7 hours to restore it! UGH! So I was at work for another 12-hour day. Oh...but in the meantime when I went home for lunch I drove over a long piece of metal that wrapped halfway around my tire (new in March, by the way) and punctured it at each end of the metal! AWESOME! So I tried to drive to the tire place but the metal broke at some point and was hitting the wheel well so I had to stop. Then I had to get my quickly flattening tire replaced with the fine donut that you get with your car! Haha! A very nice man stopped and replaced it for me. I drove to the tire place and got it fixed and then it was back to work. After our data was restored at about 5:30pm I still had to check the software on the computer that the computer guy had originally come to fix and guess what? It wasn't working right!!!!! So then it was another hour plus long call with tech support for THAT software! Yeah, I finally left the office at almost 8:00! Ridiculous!

So yesterday I still had to work about an hour or so on my day off again but then it was time to relax and unwind. I went for an assessment to see why my right hip/lower back has been so tight! Well, my TFL (tensor fasciae latae) and gluteus medius as well as my IT band are tight ...super tight and also it's overactive and my left quad is "lazy". So I really have to get on the foam roller every single day and roll the heck out of that IT band. I've been slacking on that a little. I learned that I'm rolling too quickly too so probably rolling right over the tight spots and not helping as much as I could. I also still have a chronic rotator cuff problem so need to work on that too. But the good news is that I'm not as messed up as I thought I was. Yeah for me! After my assessment I had a massage, went to lunch with my brother, and then I took a nap...aaaaahhhhhh...and then started reading my book. It was a great day! I was in bed super early but oddly didn't sleep that well. Boohoo. :-(

I haven't been working out too much since my schedule was a little CUCKOO over the past week. Saturday I did run (maybe I should say walked) the Santa Monica Stairs. And yes, my calves were sore yet once again. Dang calves! And today I'm going blading after work because I just want to! I haven't done any weights in forever but I think I'm getting ready to get back into that again. Just needed a break I think and just wasn't in the mood. Did mat pilates on Monday and that felt great too.

I think I'll be back in the gym on Saturday. Feeling like I need a change of pace so I'm going to look into a couple of gyms. I feel like I want to do some group classes since I kind of miss them lately. We'll see what happens. I'll keep you all posted. I haven't been eating that much since I haven't been working out that much. Yesterday I did have some yucca fries with my lunch...HOLY COW! Those were soooooo delicious!!!!!

Advice for husbands/boyfriends of wives/girlfriends: This advice is based off of talking to many girls, my BF, and my brother. Guys are so good at planning dates at the beginning of the dating period, right? And then what happens? Who knows? But then all of the sudden the girls are making the decisions about dates and planning the dates. To be honest, I don't mind planning dates because I am a "planner" kind of person. However, every once in a while I like my BF to just plan it so I "don't have to think about it" and "don't have to make a decision" except maybe about what I'm going to order off the menu. The 3 key points to keep in mind when planning:

1) We will be happy with anything if we don't have to plan it - well, not anything...of course you'll have to use good judgement but almost anything

2) It doesn't matter to us where we go as long as we are with you and having a good time - in other words, it's probably not best to plan a date that consists of an argument while in difference cities. LOL!

3) Don't give us a decision. We don't want it. Just state what we're going to do and that will be that. Promise we'll be happy! As long as you don't start out telling us what we're going to be doing with "I was thinking" or "what would you rather" or "what do you think of". 

I've had this conversation before with my boyfriend and several girlfriends. But I was reminded of it yesterday when I had the same conversation with my brother. He proceeded to tell me how stressful it is. How he has to get online for over an hour just to figure out the "right" restaurant. Haha! We had a good laugh over that. So, guys, do yourself a favor and don't stress out so much. We females are much easier to please than you think! Or at least some of us are. :-)

That's my update for now. Hopefully I'll be taking more pics again and get back into blogging more often and doing some new/different workouts! I'll keep you posted. Have a great rest of your week everyone! Ciao for now!

WAHOOO!!! I'm back!

Hello hello!!!!! Yes, back in the blogging world. Let me just say that of all the things of the self-imposed hiatus that I missed the most, it was definitely the blogging. The other things are nice "accessories" to my life but the writing was the thing I missed most.

Let me get you all caught up. First of all I was having some kind of tennis elbow issue last week, like the beginning of tennis elbow. Well on my way to my chiropractor on Wednesday out of nowhere this one spot on my wrist started hurting me. I didn't say anything to my chiropractor or masseuse because I figured it would go away as quickly as it came. It was just an incessant pain that was bothering me all the time except when I was asleep. On Friday it was still hurting and I couldn't be in pain all weekend since I had to be packing and moving boxes for the big floor redo in my place. So I went back to the chiropractor. She couldn't really figure out what was wrong. But she did some ultrasound and massage and then adjusted me. She also told me to wear a carpal tunnel brace. So I did that all day Saturday and most of Sunday. And come Monday the pain was completely gone. Still no idea what it was but I'm glad it's gone.

Needless to say I haven't worked out much between the elbow, wrist and moving. So yesterday was my first workout in about a week. Today I feel it! My glutes and quads are killing me today. It's all good though. I actually didn't think I would be that sore but I am.

I still have no home as they continue to work on my floors. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to move back in or possibly Monday. I don't know yet. One other thing I learned through all this moving though is that I really have a HUGE gratitude for my bed and my home. I miss it when I'm not there. I'm staying with my brother for now and then with my BF tonight. It's been crazy. It's weird to me how much that little downtime and being by yourself makes all the difference. I haven't had my lunchtime naps and downtime and that makes me a little cuckoo! HA!

I got to read more while I had my hiatus and bought a few books yesterday that I will be reading. I was discussing my "digital allowance" with my brother yesterday and I was telling him that I was thinking of one hour. He asked me "ONE hour? I would barely get through my emails in one hour." I thought about it and decided he may be right. So I have pumped up my daily allowance to 90 minutes to include all "digital" nonsense. That will include blogging, emails, twitter, facebook, WWF, online shopping, etc. I think that will not include my TV watching though. That I will limit to 2-4 hours per week. I really don't watch much TV but I like a couple of trash TV shows and every once in a while I just want to sit in front of the TV and let it entertain me for a minute or sixty!

My workout from yesterday was as follows:

FRIDAY WORKOUT
3x12 Seated Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 70#
4x10 DB Incline Press 25# DB
3x12 Seated Cable Row 85#
3x8 Sumo Squat with Barbell 65# x 1, 85# x 2
3x10 each leg - Bulgarian Split Squat 25# plate
3x8 each leg - Single Leg Hip Thrust - bodyweight only
3x15 Ab Crunch on Decline Bench w/ 10# plate

As you can see I'm moving more and more away from body part workouts and more and more into full body. It's a nice change and I prefer it so I'm not in the gym every day or for a long time. The weights look low and they are because I'm coming back from injury and crazy moving. It just felt good to get my workout on! I missed that!

That's about it! I will keep you posted on my life again. I'm so happy to back in the blogging world! WAHOOOOOOO!!!!! Hope you have all been well and can't wait to get caught up with all of you and your lives. Have a great weekend!

Friday's Eval and Saturday's Plan!

Wow! I just looked at my plan for yesterday and MAN! Was I spot on or what?!? I ate everything just as planned! Woohoo!!! Look at me go! I rock! LOL! I also got in bed super early because for some reason I was BEAT last night. I just sat on my couch and did NOTHING at all! And even THAT was almost too hard for me. So I finally called it quits about 8:40 or so and got ready for bed. I'm pretty sure I was asleep by NINE!! NO joke! Awesome!

So today is the first weekend day of my new plan. Does that scare me? Oh, just a little since this is where I usually seem to derail a little! But I'm going to head off that fear with some serious planning so here goes!

MEALS:
1) 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) 4 egg whites + 1 whole egg, 1/2 cup oatmeal, topped with 2 T light shredded cheese mix and salsa
3) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar
4) Crunch a Munch salad, 5 oz tilapia, 1 Ezekiel English muffin (maybe 1 T nut butter!)
5) same as Meal 3
6) REFUEL MEAL!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I have NO idea what to have - Korean food, Greek food, Hawaiian BBQ...hmmmmmm

WEIGHTS:
Legs
Leg Extensions 4x10
Lying ham curl 3x10
SM Squats 3x12
Side Lying Leg Press (Dexter/Charles Glass Style! at the 15:52 mark) 3x10 - these are NO joke!
Stationery Bodyweight Lunges (super deep) 3x20
Lunge/Shoulder Press Combo 3x10
Cable Deadlift 3x12
Kickbacks w/ Resistance Band 3x20

CARDIO:
30-40 minutes inline skating!!!

So I have my plan and I'm gonna use it!!! With Meals 1 and 2 done already and my weights are done, just 4 more meals to go and my skating!!! Enjoy your weekend!!!

I DID IT!!! The Morning After...a short update

Well, here it is the morning after. I'm tired but I woke up because I was hungry and I thought I would just put something up here for you all to see. I will go into much more detail of the show day in another post. Last night's first meal after the show ended up being Kalbi plate and Jap Chae from Gushi in Westwood. Sorry but no photo because I forgot my camera in the car and really was too tired and hungry to go get it. MAN!!! It was the best Korean food I've EVER had!!!! This was my breakfast - 2 egg whites & an egg, black plum YUM!, Julian cinnamon raisin bread with NuttZo and homemade raspberry jam (Thanks Deb!).

Breakfast the day after

I feel AMAZING today! I was worried that what I ate LATE last night might be a problem for me but it wasn't. My body is an incredible machine. I went out there yesterday and knocked it out. I was very proud of the package I brought to the stage. The judges though? Not so much. I placed 4th out of 4 in my Masters (35 and over) class and don't know where exactly I landed in the overall for my height but I know it wasn't the top 5. SOOOOO...what did that mean to me?

Hmmmm...good question. I'm just going to be honest here. When I came out for Masters they didn't even move us around and we weren't on stage for long at all. So I had no idea where I placed. When we came out for overall I knew that I wasn't in the top 5. Well, I really couldn't believe it, to be honest. It stings a little at first!! BUT...and listen up because this is VERY important!! Even if the judges placed me there it started to become okay with me. I knew that I did EVERYTHING I was supposed to - ate what I was supposed to, trained, did my cardio, slept, blogged, took pictures, bought lots of groceries, practiced my posing, cooked, cleaned, decreased my social life, etc. SO...no matter what, I brought the ABSOLUTE BEST package I could to the stage and that was the best I could do so yes, I had already won! Just as everyone kept telling me! It's true! And the truth of the matter is that there were A LOT of girls in that competition that did the same. They didn't miss their training or cardio, ate the right food at the right times, practiced their posing...we were all winners back there. And the other thing is that we can't all be 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Someone has to pull up the rear...and I was JUST the girl for the job!!!!

So, placing aside, it was an INCREDIBLE experience. I learned so, so much about myself and met some pretty amazing people along the way. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I will go into great detail in another post but just wanted to update all of you and post a couple of pictures from the show. There will be many more pictures later as well as my "before" pics that I promised all of you! By the end of the day they should have all my pics up here: Tournament of Champions 2010

Until later, have a great Sunday! Make it a fun day! I'm going back to sleep and then it's off to brunch with some of my greatest supporters! WOOHOO!!!

Quick Update

This week is flying by! Woah! Slow down and wait for me. It seems this week like every minute of every day is full and busting at the seams. Geez!!!! I don't even know why. I didn't even get around to posting anything yesterday or today until now!!! Like I said......GEEEZZZZZZ!!!!!

I can't lie. I'm started to feel the depletion that is happening. It's not that Gina has even changed up my diet that much but I only get carbs for my first 3 meals and then 4 more meals without so it's tough. Today was a high carb day but honestly that didn't even seem to help. I think maybe I need more sleep but I keep getting a pretty good amount but hey, maybe I still need more. I'm going to try to sleep even earlier tonight and see what happens tomorrow. I don't know if I'll make it to bed earlier though.

I had every intention of chopping up my kabocha and showing you all how I do it but guess what? Yep! Camera is out of battery! So I"m cooking it and smelling how yummy it smells and wishing you all could have smellovision. I'm going to make a post about that squash this weekend so you will all know what I'm talking about and hopefully find it and experiment with it yourselves. It's such a great substitute for sweet things. I LOVE it.

My cardio is up to two 45-minute sessions a day 7 days a week. Did I mention I'm 43?!? I think my coach may have forgotten that!!!! Man! This would have been soooooo much easier 10 or 15 years ago. Let me tell you!! Honestly it's not that hard but I have struggled a lot through my cardio this week. Today was slightly better and last night too. Maybe just because I only had cardio last night and no weights. Who knows? I live for the day that I get to go inline skating again! I miss skating like nobody's business! Oh, just to be outside - risking life and limb to stay up on those wobbly bad boys!! LOL! Kidding, of course. I have taken enough spills though that now I wear a helmet and knee pads. I'm sure the elbow pads and wrist guards are next. I'm sure I look a little dorky but the scars on my knees are really not very pretty, ya know!

On to the food for today:
Meal 1) Strawberry rhubarb protein shake!!! - this was WAY too good and made a huge serving (I'm talking 2 12 oz glasses), side of oatmeal
2) Egg whites and oatmeal, side of kimchee
3) Brown and wild rice (mixed together), broiled tilapia
4) Egg whites and brown rice with salsa
5) Same as 3 but less rice and added spaghetti squash with roasted veggie puree (leftover from Ribbon Salad)
6) Egg whites in the car/on the go and then came home and stuck my head in my huge Tupperware of salad...nope, no dressing, just ate all the chopped veggies...still am actually!
7) Protein cake or pancake...hmm...haven't decided yet

I had a great leg workout today. Gina switched up my leg workout last week and I'm LOVING it! I love working legs anyway. They're just fun! Oh, yes, that reminds me. Apparently my back is the thing that is changing the most. Wouldn't you know it? Because, of course, I can't view my own back can I? So I can't really admire my handiwork, right? LOL! So the other day I was working my back and I had on a top that shows more of my back than some other tops I wear. Well, this guy kept walking around me a few times. I guess he was waiting for me to take a rest. When I did, he said, "Your back is AWESOME!". I was flattered. It was nice to hear.

This was supposed to be a quick pose. I noticed though that I start relaxing when I blog so I must BLOG away!!! I really need to get to bed. Hope you all had a good Thursday and let's bring on Friday with high energy and a great big happy smile. Tomorrow, try smiling before you even step foot out of bed. It's crazy how well that works at putting you in the right frame of mind to begin with. Goodnight!!!

Coming this weekend:
1) More on kabocha including a recipe or two
2) Probiotics and how to get them
3) Couple of cooking tips/tricks

4 WEEKS OUT!!!!

Wow! I can't believe I'm only 4 weeks away from my show!!! Woohoo!!!

I still feel great. My energy has been fairly consistently good as has my mood. So I think both of those things are great. I'm beat tonight though so this will probably be a short post. I'm only beat because I drove to Orange County and back twice in 2 days. That's a lot of driving for me. And on top of cardio and training to boot! Look at me go!

Yesterday I got to meet up with Gina and I met Jess. Jess is another girl she's training for her first competition and following her all the way through online for her members with videos and her journal. It was great to see Gina as always. And it was great to meet Jess too. She's going to be doing my hair for my show so woohoo!! That will be fun. Gina said I look great and I'm right on track still so we'll see what this week's plan will look like.

I know I owe you guys some recipes and I plan on getting them up tomorrow but I just haven't been around the past couple of days. They'll be there soon though, promise. As well as another giveaway starts Monday! I'll definitely get that up by Monday morning.

So today I went to see Nikee, another of Gina's client's doing HER first figure competition!!! It was sooo great to see her. She looked fantastic and rocked the stage! The show was smaller than the ones I've gone to and her class was only 2 people and some of the other classes were only 3. I think the biggest class was only 9 girls.

More updates tomorrow as well as meals and recipes, etc. Gotta go relax, unwind and just be. Till tomorrow...

6 WEEKS OUT!!! Big Fat Update!

 
Hello, me again! So, here is my update from the past couple of days...

Wednesday I actually left work early. My visor had broken on my car and it was going to cost me $60 to replace. I talked to my guy at the dealership and he said to bring it in and maybe we could work something out. So after I left work I headed to the gym to finish up my cardio for the day (off day from training). Then I headed over to the dealership. He DID get me a deal, indeed! $16 instead of $60! Of course I did that right away. Then it was off to REI to pick up some inserts for my water bottle. Then it was to the grocery store. Then home finally around 5 or so. I ended up cooking from about 5 till 10. WHAT?!? How does that happen? I think I was a little inefficient about my time though. I know I could have done that better if I hadn't gotten so carried away with my zucchini chips! LOL! But you know how I love those. I made the following: 6 batches of zucchini loaves, dried rhubarb (recipe coming soon), Turkey Meatloaf, 2 batches of zucchini chips, Spicy Couscous Summer Salad, Spicy Shrimp, broiled tilapia, 2 Chocolate Protein Cakes, as well as dinner - Shrimp with diced spicy tomatoes. Yep, very busy in the kitchen indeed and enough food to last till tomorrow so yeah!

Thursday morning I was up at 4:30 so I could be at the gym by 5 at the latest. I got there and they opened up about 4:55am and in I went for my 30 minutes of cardio (treadmill 4.4 @ 12% incline). Then it was home for a quick shower and eat Meal 1 and then out the door at 6:24 to head to San Diego. Drive time? About 2 hours! Not bad actually and thankfully because coming home? Not QUITE the same story. Met up with Gina and practiced posing. Still have a problem with my back pose but it's improving. My new friend Nikee had her appointment with Gina right after me. It was great to see her again. She had 2 suits with her so I tried one of them on. It looked great - color and all and got me more excited for the competition. I'm contacting the owner to see if I can "rent" it. I should find out this week if I can or not. Keep your fingers crossed. It would be perfect for me! Gina's going to change up my training and mealplan again so I will see what that looks like tomorrow. So exciting! We also discussed my mental state a little which seems to be a problem. More on that later but to sum it up I really have an issue with being as "small" as I am right now. Not very comfortable with that.

From there it was off to the San Diego Hilton right next to the Convention Center. Really pretty and nice hotel. Got to see my friends and their kids. It was great. While we were hanging out by the pool, relaxing and chatting, there was a gathering on the bayside of the pool. We went to check it out and they were training a military dolphin! So cool! Well, military not so cool but the dolphin was awesome. If you know me at all, you know I think I'm a reincarnated dolphin. Hee hee...

I hung out with them for a while and then headed home. The parking in that area is ridiculous so even though I came into the lot at :29 after and left at :32 after I still got charged the extra hour for those THREE minutes! Ridiculous but oh well. They weren't trying to help me out at all. Such is life. Then I'm waiting at the light in from of the Convention Center and we aren't moving at all because there are a ton of pedestrians. While I'm sitting there a couple of bees show up on my rearview mirror.

This was just the beginning...BEFORE the mirror was covered!!!

Next thing I know my car is SWARMED by bees. Literally the whole rearview mirror was covered with bees and they were just sticking to my window. I was so freaked out! And I'm not even a girly girl that can't handle bees. I can but this was a little too freaky. And it was ONLY my car. Nobody else was having the bee swarm. Weird or what?

Made it back around 7:15pm (3 1/2 hours of driving). I was exhausted from the drive and lounging in the sun. But I ate my dinner and headed off to the gym to work my legs and then do my PM cardio. Got the legs done with a lot of struggling but did it and then onto the treadmill. I couldn't do it. I made it for 15 and had to call it quits. I got home, made my chocolate cake and as I was eating it at 9:45 decided that Friday I was just going to sleep in and just enjoy my morning. I could tell I needed to regroup and I did just that.

Friday I woke up at 6:15am. Such a luxury. I took a nice leisurely shower and then ate a nice leisurely breakfast, had time to write on Gina's forum and just regrouped. Had some desperately needed ME time! And DOWN time!! It was great. I went to work and worked all day. Came home at lunch and took a nap and realized how very tired I was. Packed my bag for the gym anyway. At the end of the workday I asked myself if I would be incredibly disappointed in myself if I didn't work out...would I feel guilty. The answer was a definitive NO. So I didn't work out yesterday at all. I came home, watched a movie and just relaxed. It was AWESOME and very rejuvenating. I got to bed early so this morning, how did I feel?

I FELT FANTASTIC this morning and my energy and mind has been great today. I am about to eat my 3rd meal and then head to the gym. I made a colossal failure recipe this morning for egg white frosting. I thought it would be perfect for my chocolate cakes but it was a huge flop. I was subbing Just Like Sugar for the sugar though and I just don't think you can do that. I'll try a different recipe again some other time and see what happens. Then I turned around and made a jicama crisp. It looks pretty good and tastes pretty good but not great. I'm going to have to find and buy rhubarb today and then I'm making THAT into a crisp! That will be divine since the jicama is just a little too crunchy for that. But the rhubarb won't be. Can't wait!!! Yummy, yummy. I'll post the recipe when I get it right.

Well, off to more food and the gym. Then I have to head out to the mall. I really need a couple of pieces of clothing that fit!!!!

Make it great! It's got to be first rate!!! - Why, yes, that IS a high school cheer!!!! LOL!!! But it's fitting for me and I like it for today.

OMG! I just found this quote and could it be more fitting for me?!? I mean "holding two opposed ideas in my mind"!!!! WOW!! Nailed it!! Thanks F. Scott!

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.~F. Scott Fitzgerald