the gift of heat

Know what Santa brought me? Among other marvelous treasures, he brought me a Lasko 5532 Ceramic Tower Heater. This space heater is the king of space heaters! It is quiet, it rotates, it has a REMOTE CONTROL so I can lazily control it from the comfort of my bed, it has temperature settings, etc, etc, etc. And the best part? Now I don't turn into an icicle in my cavernous basement bedroom. Yay! It is kind of nice to only have to wear one hoodie to bed instead of two, and to loose the bathrobe, too. Thanks, Santa!

navidad

Christmas was fantastic! It was probably my favorite Christmas I can remember in years. I was able to spend several days in Idaho with my fantastic family. We did all of our traditional things--hour d' oeurve dinner for Christmas Eve, acting out the manger scene while my dad read Luke 2, opening almost all our gifts Christmas Eve night, Christmas dinner at my Grandparents' house, sledding at the cabin, etc. Oh, how magical it was!

I think the highlight of the holiday season was the sub-for-santa I was able to organize. My "litter sister" through the Big Brother Big Sisters program comes from a very low-income family. Her mother asked me a while back if I knew of any programs that could help her with gifts for her kids for Christmas. I decided to organize a gift collection through my office. Wow! I was overwhelmed with the generosity of my co-workers! The five children in this family were so spoiled for Christmas! Here is my roommate's SUV totally FILLED with gifts! It was so fantastic to see the look on the dad's eyes as he helped unload the car. Wow. What an awesome feeling!

I hope your Christmas was just as great as mine!

can you tell me how to get, how to get to sesame street?

sesame street turns 40! has anyone else loved the google tributes to sesame street? how cute! i loved this show as a kid.

Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street

Come and play
Everything's A-OK
Friendly neighbors there
That's where we meet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

day 7...almost over!

So the cleanse is still on. Day seven is coming to a close. I have not eaten for a week. Wow. Crazy, huh? But I must say, it has not been all that bad! I have had a lot of energy and have even been able to work out. I really am rarely hungry anymore. Weird. Creepy weird. But I feel great! I have three days left of the cleanse...then easing back into normal foods. I feel like it has been effective so far. I have learned a whole lot! I just need to get through the next three days (as I now hate the lemonade!). Yay for almost being done!

My internet has been down at my house and I have not been able to update the blog. Sad! So, I am stealing a few minutes of work time to post.

So, I am currently on DAY THREE of the Master Cleanse! Yeah! No food (or gum, or candy, or mints, or anything) in about 64 hours so far. And the surprising thing?! It's not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Whenever I feel the tiniest of hunger pangs, I just take a swig of my awesome lemonage concoction (that I always have in tote), and voile, I am not hungry any more. It has been totally amazing to me.

I feel like I have more energy, oddly. I guess my body doesn't have to work on digesting anything, so there is ample energy to spare. I usually can't get through the work day without a Diet Coke. Now? Not a problem at all! I even worked out at the gym last night (not a hardcore workout though, because I really don't have many extra calories to burn up at this point).

I have realized so much during these three days.

-Human beings eat out of habit. We eat because it is "lunchtime," whether we're hungry or not--because everyone else is eating, and because it's weird if we don't eat at certain times/

-Eating is very psychological. We THINK we're hungry sometimes when we're really not. If we decide we're NOT hungry, it's easyt o not eat. It goes both ways.

-We eat to comfort ourselves.

-We eat entirely too much food. As proved, we don't need huge portions of food to sustain our energy and feel good and healthy. I am living on very minimal calories, yet I feel like I have MORE energy than I have on my normal diet. Maybe this is because my body isn't clogged full of unhealthy, greasy food?

I really think that my eating habits are going to change a lot after this experience. After I reach day ten of the cleanse, I have to ease food back into my diet slowly and cautiously. Days eleven and twelve will be days of drinking orange juice only, as suggested by the experts. Then days thirteen and fourteen will allow me to eat raw fruits and veggies. After that, I should be good to go on eating whatever I want. But the interesting thing to me during this process is that my cravings are not for greasy fast food or fatty sweets. I am craving very healthy things--like hummus, veggies, salads, etc.

I think that for me, the cleanse has been an awakening of sorts. So far, I feel like I have learned a lot about my body and about how to care for it better. I am glad for that. That's what I was hoping to gain from this experience. And, as a bonus, I have also lost six pounds so far! Not a bad side effect at all.

Seven days to go...

am i TOTALLY crazy?!?!

So, the other day, out of boredom, my mind was wandering...and I decided I wanted to do a cleanse. Not totally sure why.

So I did some googleing and decided on The Master Cleanse. Eek. I'm scared. Really scared. But I talked my co-worker, Teresa, into doing it with me. I probably wouldn't have the courage (or stupidity) to do it myself.

So what is The Master Cleanse? Basically, it is a starvation plan. Haha.

The Master Cleanse has been around since like the 40s I think? I have read so many websites about it, that my brain is a little mushy. But basically, you only drink this lemonade concoction for ten straight days to cleanse your body. Yeah, I know...sounds insane. But lately, my body feels like it needs some sort of purification. I just feel sluggish. And I'm not okay with that.

Here is the lemonade recipe:

• 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed organic lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of organic, grade b maple syrup
• 1/10 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 cup filtered water

You mix up the lemonade and drink 6 to 12 glasses a day--you drink every time you feel hungry. Ugh. Already dreading it...but excited to see the results!

So, tomorrow marks day one of the cleanse. Wish me luck. I will tell you all about it as I go. But tonight, I had my "last supper" at Winger's with my old roommates, Susan and Brittany.

Sigh. Cleanse, here I come...

the birthday festivities

Yep, the birthday was fantastic! Here are some pics of the party: