Red

To those of you who know me this may come as a surprise....when I was little I hated my red hair.  It probably started at a bus stop one day when some sixth grade boys called me Strawberry Shortcake.  Ouch.  I was so embarrassed.  In hindsight it wasn't even an insult.  But I didn't think Strawberry Shortcake was cute.  I liked the blonde haired girl (what was her name again?)  I thought the golden haired character was prettier.  So began years of wishing my hair was any color other than red.  I had BIG blotchy freckles and my hair was short (like a boy) so I was pretty unfortunate looking.  Let's not forget the huge gap between my teeth.  ugh.  Oh wait, the pale skin.  Oh, the pale skin.  And sunburns.  And more freckles.  And the rules of colors.  "redheads shouldn't wear red, or pink, or anything that a girly girl would love"   I remember being in my aunt's wedding and I got stuck wearing yellow while my dark haired cousin got to wear the pink.  (for the record yellow is the ONLY color I will not wear as an adult--it's horrible on me now.  And was then too but apparently a redhead wearing pink was not permitted)  (side note--why were my aunt's color pink and yellow anyway? yikes!) 

Then as I got older having red hair posed new problems.  Let's just say I endured the question "Does the carpet match the curtains?"  WAAAAAAAY too many times by boys on the school bus.  I tried to make my hair blonde by putting straight peroxide in it and used a lot of my babysitting money on Sun In (do they even make that anymore?)  All of those efforts were to no avail.  My hair was red.  Period.  I was pale.  And I had a million freckles. 

By high school/college I started to realize that having red hair was kind of interesting.  People always remembered me.  I was unique.  I didn't hate it anymore.  Boys seemed to like red hair.  And I got a compliment every time I got my hair cut.  (Is this your natural color?  People would pay a lot of money for hair like that!)  And the rest of me caught up too.  My freckles calmed down into a less blotchy situation and I discovered self tanners.   

Now I feel lucky to have red hair.  It's unique and interesting.  I never feel boring even on my most boring outfit days.  I always have a pop of color.  Now I crave freckles.  I think they make me look healthy.  Now it's just how I'm identified in any group.  It's just a part of who I am. 

The reason for the back story is because a month ago I was researching redheads with eyelash extensions and came across a whole website dedicated to being a redhead.  How to Be A Redhead.  Of course I followed this on Facebook and Instagram.  I couldn't believe it.  I would have LOVED to have this when I was younger.  There are beauty tips, role models, and fun stuff about the joys of being red.  One of the cutest things recently that caught my attention was this:

A children's book written about a little girl that hated her red hair.  And her mother tells her about all the beautiful things in the world that are red.  I ordered it and it's ADORABLE.  Anyway, there is a contest called "Red is the Color of..."  You're supposed to take a picture and instagram/facebook it with a picture and a sign of what the color red represents to you.  I entered last week and used this picture:

I always talk about my orange love but I wanted to represent my undergraduate alma mater too.  I just love this and think it's such a cute and empowering thing for my fellow gingers out there.  Because we all spent too much time thinking our hair was ugly.  And now that I think about it there has to be something to the fact that I can't think of that blonde character from Strawberry Shortcake.  The only one that people remember is Strawberry herself. 

 

A redheaded victory.

 

Happy Tuesday!

On the Run

Monday morning already and another busy and nice weekend to speak of. 

On Saturday morning I got up early and met two friends for a 4 mile run. Last week the running group that I'm associated with (I say that because I so rarely run with them) posted a story about a woman named Meg that was killed last Monday while out for her morning run.  By a drunk driver.  At 8 am.  It was so sad.  I thought it was a good reason to get up and run with the thousands of others that had planned to do it too.   Then the next day my sorority posted that Meg was a Sigma and told her story.   I knew I had to run in her honor.  It's sad to know that she had 3 little kids and a husband left behind.  It's so tragic that something like that could happen. 

I was pleased that I was able to run 4 solid miles (thanks to Angie and Kacy for running with me).  There were others from the running group that met at 7 am so we took a quick picture before they left.

Angie, Sarah and Jenni had a joint birthday at the bowling alley so I headed there after I worked all day.  It was fun to bowl and to hang out.  What a fun idea for something different to do for a birthday!    I spent all day yesterday sleeping and relaxing.  I haven't had the chance to do that in a long time so I was excited to spend the day in my jams catching up on sleep and stuff at home.  Mostly sleeping though.  I'm thankful for a life that keeps me so busy and happy.  Hope you all had a good weekend too!

For the Health of It

It's already Thursday?!?    Wow.  This month is flying by.  I have been so happily busy lately.  I swear I couldn't pack much more in my days.  I usually fall into my bed at night a very sleepy but happy girl. 

I mentioned that I was trying some new things in the new year and I wanted to share a little bit about it.  My friend Gillian got me hooked up with this fitness challenge via a local group (on FB).  Basically, we have a group that has a coach and we make our individual fitness/health goals for the 21 day challenge.  Our coach checks in with us and we post different things throughout the process.  And we drink Shakeology one meal a day.  At first I wasn't convinced that I wanted to invest in something like this.  I am not a fad diet kind of girl.  I believe in weight watchers because it is real life and making good choices.  BUT after a little research I decided that I should give this a try.  This shake is packed with vitamins, protein, and all sorts of good stuff.  Oh, and it's delicious.  I have been solidly doing it for a few days and I feel like I have more energy and less cravings to eat junk.  And I've given up the diet coke for almost two weeks now.  The best part for me is that it fits into my WW life. I'm looking forward to my weigh in this week!

And of course getting good physical activity is a part of it too.  So I'm trying new fitness classes and started my 10K training again.  This week I went to my first TRX class and it was awesome.  I'm sore still 3 days later but it's the best kind of sore.  And last night I gave yoga another chance.  I was happy with it and felt great after.  It really helped me stretch and relax my sore muscles.  And I got a good run in the other day.   But my favorite activity this week has been playing volleyball.  I haven't played in a few years and I'm so happy to be back at it.  My team is so fun and all are so nice.  It's been great meeting new people and sharing it with old friends.  We got our shirts yesterday so we took a picture after our game.  We may not have won a game yet, but we sure look like a cute team.  :) 

I'm looking forward to keeping this momentum going and getting to my fitness goals this year! 

It Can Wait

On Friday afternoon I realized that I had the entire weekend off.  It made me so happy.  I had so much to do--take down my trees (don't judge this is the first year I've had them up past the new year), clean my house, do laundry (like 10 loads), errands, etc.   

BUT...I didn't do ANY of it.

Instead this is how I spent my weekend:

Hanging out with my cute little god son on Friday night.  Isabel and I got Chinese food and hung out.  Baby cuddles and girl talk. Love.

Saturday morning I got up and decided I would go to Saratoga to watch the Cuse/UNC game with my friend Beth and her kids.   She's the cutest little cheerleader, isn't she?

We hung out all afternoon (and watched the end of the Duke loss--YES!) We went out to eat at a cute place.  I had this amazing pumpkin, apple mac and cheese....yum. 

An added bonus was that Saratoga has an Alex and Ani storefront and I was able to finally get my Syracuse bracelet.  I've been trying to get this for months.  It wasn't available on line for the longest time.  Whew. 

I came home early on Sunday morning and met up with Sabrina to walk to our volleyball practice.  And then I ran errands.  I was tired but I got a few things done.  On my drive home I rememberd that I needed to get the Dave Matthews wines (you know for decoration) so I stopped by and picked it up.  I've been wanting this for awhile so I was glad I remembered to actually do it.

To end the weekend (and to avoid my chores) I went over to Sabrina's to watch the Golden Globes.  Eliza has a special week at school this week so she was proud of her poster.  This kid is pure sweetness. 

We watched the awards with wine.  It was a good way to end a good weekend.  So what if my house is still a wreck today.  It can wait.  I'd rather spend time with the good people in my life on a weekend off.  It really is a whole new AG for 2014!

Good Stuff

A good weekend can be filled with many things.  I guess it depends on the weekend and time of year.  My good weekend included...

A fun night out with friends.

 

Some cuddles and silliness with this little cutie.

Seeing a movie (Walter Mitty) and late night bargain shopping with Sabrina.  We had a confrontation with a very rude walmart employee about this ribbon.  If you don't want people to think it's 75 percent off--don't put it in that section.  We win. 

 

I worked both days and had two broken toilets in my house but still managed to have a good weekend.  Now I'm all geared up for a new week.  And starting some new things. 

Fresh 14 continues...

 

Fresh 14

Here we are 3 days into 2014!  Wow.  So far I have to admit that I feel like the new year started on a positive note for me.  I know it's premature but something about this new year feels different...

On NYE I was a little bummed because I didn't have any big plans.  I usually go out or have people over or do something.  But for some reason the plans I could have had didn't really appeal to me.  So I decided to make the best of it and after my half day of work, have a day of beauty (hair, nails and toes) and head home with champagne and Chinese food and relax.  If I was going to sit home, at least I was gonna feel pretty.  :)

It ALMOST went like that. 

I did the day of beauty.  I stopped and got my champagne and my food.  Came home and started celebrating solo.  My roommate (yeah, weird I have a roomie for the first time in my adult life--it's a long story)  was there (to my surprise) and wasn't planning on going out either.  So we watched a movie and at 11:15--we decided we were too fun to sit at home and needed to ring in the new year out and about.  We called a cab and headed downtown.  On our way, my friend/former student said he was in town so we were gonna meet up.  Fun!

This is right before we left  the house.  I had picked up some party favors just in case.  Good thing--we were very festive.

It was the first time I've gone out in months.  And for the first time, I wasn't concerned about running into anyone that might make me feel sad.  I actually didn't even think about that.  It was great!  I had fun.  I drank too many shots.  And I made relatively good decisions.  ha ha.   I thought I had lost my phone but it turns out my friend had it in his pocket.  He discovered that the next morning.  Thank God!  I would have freaked out if I had to get a new phone.  But only because all of my pictures are on there.  It was a good night.  A really fun, semi memorable, good night.

I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and no desire to eat food.  But it was the first day of the year--I needed to get out and do something.  I met Angie for lunch at the Hibachi place.  It was nice to be able to process the details of the night before with her.  Sometimes a girl just needs to process...am I right?!  I started to feel better after we ate so I went over to see Sabrina for a bit.  And then went to volleyball practice and then grocery shopping.  Whew. 

Yesterday I went back to work in a snow storm.  We all left the office around noon for a snow day.  yay!  I went to help Sabrina organize her toy room.  It was a big project--it took all day.  I didn't get home until after midnight. 

This is the before.

The After...

I love a good organizing project.  And it provides me pictures for my portfolio for when/if I ever decide to kick off my professional organizing career. 

 

2014 is off to a good start.  I feel better than I have in a long time.  I feel like this year is going to be different.  I don't have any resolutions.  All I want for this year is to live my life to the very fullest every day.  To love the people that I love.  To be the best possible me I can be.  And to always remember that life is too short to have regrets so I'm going to do what I want to do. 

 

2014 is full of possibilities. 

 

Happy New Year!