It's Not Easy Eating Greens

Recently, I completed a 30 Day Fitness & Diet Challenge out of Biggest Loser coach and fitness extraodinaire Jillian Michaels' newest book Making the Cut. It should be called Jillian Kicks Your Ass and You Hate Her and then You Tone Up and then You Love Her. Because that's what happens.

Before my 30 days, I talked to my doctor and did a month of my own workouts to prepare my body. I took her test - and passed. Then, I set aside the month of September to do it. There were days I left the gym feeling so week. My mouth watered on every commercial for cookies, Outback steakhouse, yogurt, Coke, hell, some tv shows even got me. Driving past Chickfila on my way to work was torture. There were mornings when I hated every bite of my Kashi Go Lean (no crunch) cereal. There were days I cried on the arc trainer because I just felt like I couldn't do it.

And then came the good days. At my first weigh in, I'd dropped four pounds and lost an inch. At my second weigh in, I another pound less and another inch skinnier. At the final 30 day mark, I'd lost six pounds, three and a half inches from my waist and 4% of my body fat. And I looked fit! I felt fit. I was stronger. I was better.

This month, I'm off the challenge. I've had two Dr. Peppers, one CFA sandwich, a piece of chocolate, a cheeseburger and pasta. None of them as delicious as I remembered. I'm still working out hard - with a new workout thanks to my trainer AJ and eating right with lots of protein, healthy snacks and as many veggies as I want. Today, I'm nine pounds less than I was when I moved to Philadelphia, swimming in some of my pants and a hell of a lot happier with my body. Thankfully, Bryan was on board for the latest challenge. Together, we've shrunk our waists, grown our relationship and ignited a new lust for each other's bodies.

If you need a kick in the ass to get fit, this is THE book. I owe my health to Jillian Michaels.

How I Like My Improv

Having been a student, performer, instructor and audience of improvisation for five years, I have developed a taste for a certain sort of improv.

FUNNY It may seem obvious, but it isn't. Every once in awhile I'll see an improv show that is serious just for the sake of being serious. Much in the same way some troupes will have an improv character fart, just for the "joke" of bodily function. I don't want to see your character have an abortion, get raped, die of cancer or have an abusive, drunkard boyfriend. That's real life, and that horrible shit happens to people. I want my improv to be an escape from reality, a blip of hilarity, poking fun at how we humans are.

VARIED I want my improv to be a collection of short and long scenes, big hearty laughs and tiny giggles, two person scenes and group scenes, game intense and character-based scenes, innocent and sexual, realistic and silly, twisting common ideas and pushing the line, lots of mime and talking heads. Give it to me: all you've got, every tool you have.

ENJOYABLE My favorite moment (when I'm watching improv) is to see a player have a hilarious scene or monologue staightfaced, and then, as the player walks to the side line, crack an amused smile. Not a laugh, but a smile. Something that tells me she's enjoying the comedy she's creating. Because then I just love the show even more.

Improvisation is good for you. It frees your mind. It lets you imagine and play. It demands quick thinking. It provides an outlet for fears, desires and your inner crazy. Plus, it's a great way to meet your husband and ensure a playful, hilarious life.

World of All Ladies

My office runs on estrogen. There is not one man in all of admissions. Well, that's a lie. There is the director of all admissions and he's a man. And one of the admission recruiters is a man. But neither of them ever come into the main admissions wing. So, as I was saying, there are no men in admissions.

And it's wonderful. Everyone is asking about your evening. They offer advice on great side dishes for dinner. They tell you where the good restaurants are. They encourage breaks of walking around campus. They are often coming by my desk to show my pictures of their grandkids and to oooh and aww over my wedding pictures. The bathrooms are spotless - and have automatic everythings! The supply of post-it notes, fancy pens and colored paperclips is bottomless. And each of them are married to a man working on campus - whether he's a professor, an IT guy or a dean. It's the cutest little bubble of a world.

And I suppose I fit in. I'm college educated, married to a professor, interested in these students, easily amused, a fan of womanly conversation and excited to find the best and most brilliant students to bring to Ursinus. (Plus, like I said before, it's wonderful to have the same hours, same commute and same world as Bryan.) If only every office could be full of women!

I wonder if men feel the same, in that they wish for the opposite.

Your Sinus Add Me Ski Ons

"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work."
-Richard Bach

I started my new job at Ursinus College today. Not only am I pumped about working so close to our home and getting to wear my new heels, I really enjoy reading these applications. Unfortunately, I signed a confidentiality statement and am not allowed to post snipits of their essays, honors, email usernames or club listings as I had planned to.

Although we're encouraged to read the application from front to back, I like to read the essay first. It's hard to get a feel for someone from just their name, school, address and racial boxes. Reading the essays is like listening to these kids. Some are really intelligent with complex sentences and genuine discovery. Others are totally lame and you can tell they just copy and pasted the name of the college into this template essay. It's always funny to me when these students write with this overly dramatic tone, this my-life-was-useless-before-this-moment, this I'm-so-enlightened voice. They probably have been reading a lot of great works by authors who do write in that tone. The difference, though, is in the content: great works authors have incredible things to say; these high schoolers are just bullshitting.

Thus far, the most popular sentence variation I've read is: "That's when I knew, I had to help people." Which I find incredibly interesting.

Holla

I've been thinking. Mostly because I've started reading again, but I've been thinking nonetheless. Sometimes you just need to write. Maybe you don't, but I do. I've taken about a year off from my last blog, and I'm ready to write again for all the eyes of the blogosphere. Or just my mom. Regardless, I'm back.

As I experience moving 1000 miles from my hometown, as I begin my marriage, as I develop myself outside of college, as I continue to work in the "real world" and as I embark on adventure far from friends and family, I will start this new blog and fill it with thoughts from a lady brain.