So Long 2012... It's Been Real.

Oh 2012, where shall I being? You were not the best of years... in fact, you might have been the worst ever. I spent most of the year under the weather in one way or another. Even managed to land a lovely case of the shingles! Shingles... at 36! And let me tell you, it is one of the most painful things ever! Even worse than having needles stuck in your back, which I also had done this year. I learned that knee surgery will be in my near future and I'm ending the year with a migraine that's been around for almost 2 months. But, I'm still alive and I've avoided any hospital visits, so bright side there!

There were also couple of national tragedies that hit a little too close to home for me, namely Superstorm Sandy that hit the coast at the end of October and the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown... a small town 20 miles North of me. Both events shook me pretty hard and really made me be more aware of my feelings on certain topics.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom this year. There were a number of good moments. Spending 3 days in NYC at BlogHer `13, two of the days with my friend Laura, was awesome. Spent a day at New York Comic Con. Hit a few excellent toy events. Made some new blogging friends. Became a devoted Whovian. I also discovered my personal style when it comes to clothes and rediscovered a number of passions that were dormant in my life. Now more than ever, I can comfortably say what I like... and don't like, without caring what people think.

As for my resolutions from the start of 2012, they were mostly a bust:

• Do Project Life - this is going to be interesting... since I rarely leave the house - I made it *maybe* 5 weeks? It just wasn't a good fit for my lifestyle.

• Do Project 52 - going to focus this project on macro images - I lasted 7 weeks. 7. I'm pretty sure I narrowed my topic down too much, which became not so much challenging, but uninteresting.

• Lose 50lbs - I want to/need to lose more, but I'm being a bit of a realist with this goal - Nope, in fact, I think I ended the year weighing more than I started.

• Build readership on all 4 of my blogs  - Ended up with 7 inactive blogs. Yikes!

• Start up Pop Hearts Studio  - Nope, did nothing with this and I'm now not sure if I ever will.

• Try to find my drawing style  - Thought about it, did nothing. 

• Create, Create, Create  - I made a few things, wish it was more.

Then there was the 2012 Goodreads Reading Challenge - only completed 4 books out of my goal of 10. I have bookcases full of books waiting to be read and only managed 4. And for Christmas, I added some new books to my collection, so I'll be attempting the reading challenge again.

Oh, and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) in November... I lasted 19 days. Which was better than 2011, but still wasn't the entire month. Honestly, if it wasn't for the election or SuperStorm Sandy, I don't think I would have even made it 19 days. Those two topics alone gave me a weeks worth of posts!

Something I did manage to do pretty well with is my word of the year. I picked CONFIDENCE, and I thing I did a pretty good job of it. Did I waver a bit, absolutely! But over all I'm kind of proud of myself.

Anyways, I'm going to put all of that behind me and know that 2013 can only go up from here!

A Rude Awakening

I've always known I was never going to be a supermodel. Or a prom queen. I never thought I was the Elephant Man... but Heidi Klum, I am not. I considered myself cute, mostly because I had a cute personality... at least I think I have a cute personality. And I know I was a little overweight, but really didn't think I was that fat. Until I was walking through the streets of NYC and caught a side view of myself in a shop window. Wow. I was shocked to say the least. It's like that old saying...

Denial... It's not just a river in Egypt.

Boy, was I in denial. But still, it was just weight. I could change that. So, for the purpose of this post I asked my mom to take some before photos. Bring on the rude awakening.

I can't believe I went out in public like this. I am a big girl, in very saggy shorts. And don't get me started on the hair... that's a topic for another post. But again, it's just weight. It can be lost.

Thankfully, I am not going to be alone in this battle of the bulge. I've got two good friend that are inspiring me with their own weight lose journeys! Laura (BlogHer Roommate Extraordinaire) is writing about her attempts on her blog, Tales from the Geek Vest, and her husband Brian (Fellow Lego Geek) talks about his adventure on his blog, Memoirs of a Soon-To-Be Former Fat Guy! Both are incredible people and fantastic writers, so you should really check out their musings!

So, I have my inspiration... now to tackle the fat. Some small steps that I am doing to change things are:

• I stopped drinking soda. This has been very hard because I'm slightly addicted to Coca-Cola. But I started last Sunday and today is the first day I had one... and I'm only having one because I had pizza for dinner. And you can't have pizza without soda in my world! There is a slight downside and this is I am now living a caffeine free life. It was a problem for the first few days, but now I'm looking at it positively. Buh-bye addiction!
  
• I switched from kid cereal to adult cereal. By that I mean no more Lucky Charms or Froot Loops. Now it's Special K or Chex.
  
• I don't eat between the hours of 9am and 9pm. This might seem like a weird habit, but it does help. If I'm hungry at night and it's after 9pm... oh well, it's water or nothing. It's pretty much stopped the after dinner snacking or dessert for the most part.
  
• I started chewing gum in the afternoon instead of snacking. The snapping drives my dad up the wall (which is sort of a bonus), but it does kill the cravings and gives my mouth something to do.
  
• I've been keeping busy. Being busy stops me from eating out of boredom. And I'm getting a lot of things done!
  
• Water is my new best friend. I always have a bottle near me.
  
• Keeping the junk out of the house. If it isn't around... I can't eat it! Some stuff sneaks in from time to time... but I am started to learn moderation. And prepackaged items, while more expensive, do help a lot.

That's it. That's currently what I am changing. And it's paying off... in just 1 week I've already dropped about 3 pounds. I'll eventually work up to getting on the treadmill and starting some yoga, just need to recover from jacking up my knee over the weekend.

Here's to a healthier life!