My Goal

When I graduated from college, I was pretty close to my ideal weight and fitness.  Thanks to a fitness class I took in my last semester to get my last PE credit, I was exercising 2-3 times a week and I was only about 5 pounds from the ideal weight for my height and bone structure, well within the normal range for BMI.  I felt pretty good.  That was 4 years ago.

Since then, I've felt like there were more important things to do than exercise... I was dating this hot guy, ya' see... and then later, there was wedding planning (I know a lot of people get on a "must lose weight" kick before their wedding, but that wasn't a trigger for me at all).  In the first year after I graduated, I was concerned that my diet was unhealthy (see the post about my first salad at age 25), so I tracked my caloric and nutrient intake for about a month... it turns out that my diet was actually pretty healthy nutrient wise (as long as I take a multivitamin).  That was good news, but not much motivation to lose those last 5 pounds to my ideal weight or to really worry about my health at all.

I've gained 20 pounds and only exercised about 50 times since my college graduation.  The weight gain was a very slow progression, and I always told myself that I was still in pretty good shape compared to the obesity trend you hear about on the news.  For about 2 years, I've been telling myself that I need to get in shape before I have kids because if I can't get healthy now, having never been pregnant, no kids to take care of, and in the supposed "prime" of my life age wise, there's no hope for me after having kids.

This isn't a New Year's Resolution.  I made my last New Year's Resolution in my senior year of high school: Never let myself make a New Year's Resolution again... other than that last one, they never lasted past January 5th anyway.  It just so happens that after 2 years of giving lip service to getting healthier, I finally reached my tipping point over the holidays.

I think I just realized that the 20 pounds I've gained since college really is a lot (a friend of mine is 34 weeks pregnant and she's barely gained that much).  I look at some of my female family members... mom, grandmother, aunts, and cousins... they've all had children... and none of them are as overweight as me... I've got no excuse for my behavior, and I don't want to find myself unable to keep up with my kids in 5 years because I've neglected my body.

I don't mean to write this so that people will feel sorry for me, but if I put this out there, I'll at least think twice before I let myself slide.  When it boils down to it, I like the way I look (and I know John does too), and that's probably been my biggest hindrance to getting healthier.  But I can, and should be better about how I take care of my body.

This last week I started tracking what I'm eating again.  I don't intend to make major dietary changes... nutrient wise, I'm still doing a pretty decent job, but I've been using a calorie tracker that sets a target, and I have to exercise each day to get down to the target calorie level based on what I ate that day.  I'm finding that to be a neat motivation: You wanted to butter your roll at lunch, that's fine, just add a little time to that exercise. :)

I've set a 24 week plan to lose 24 pounds.  I put the weight on slowly, and I know if I'm going to make this a sustainable lifestyle, I'm going to have to take it off slowly too.  I one week in, and I'm proud to say that I'm on target for the week, and except for 1 day, I've exercised 30 minutes each day.  I know 1 week is hardly a habit, but after 4 years of nothing, it's a really good start.

1 week & 1 pound down - 23 to go!

Tradition

I like traditions.  It's nice to know what to expect and to remember previous occurrences through traditions.  John and I have a New Year's Eve tradition that we celebrated for the 5th time this year.  Every New Years Eve / New Year's Day that we've known each other, we've been at Cafe Brazil for midnight.

Cafe Brazil doesn't have any special New Year's Festivities, but they have a TV that's watching the ball in New York, and most of the restaurant participates in a pretty subdued count-down for the last 10 seconds of the year.

The first time I came to Dallas to visit John we ate at Cafe Brazil for dinner because it was one of only a few places open after the game we went to.  Then for our 1st New Year's celebration a few months later, we went to Cafe Brazil because it was open and we had enough time to get there after John finished working on the evening news.  We had wanted to go to one of the big New Year's parties in town, but it would have been a logistics nightmare by the time John got back from work. 

We eat at Cafe Brazil throughout the year because we like it, but I guess the Cafe Brazil tradition started because we were settling for something to do at the New Year.  It turned out to be perfect for us.  We're not much for the crowd of strangers party scene.  So, ringing in 2012 was our 5th New Year together, and we were at Cafe Brazil, just like 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

2011: A Review

I started this blog after 2011 had already started, but a year in review post still seems appropriate.  This is the closest I'm going to get to a Christmas letter, so if you were eagerly waiting by the mailbox to receive our Christmas greeting; sorry, this is all you get:

• Work: I spent most of the year working at a client that could have been the inspiration for both the TV show: The Office and the movie: Office Space. (You may have noticed my recent increase in blog posts... my tour of duty at that client finally ended Nov 30, and I'm looking forward to exciting new client ventures in 2012.) John started the year doing free lance work, even directing some commercials in Hollywood, and has spent the last few months doing a steady gig for Hit Entertainment.
• Pets: Nicippe and Nestor are still our favorite little furry friends.  We had a scare earlier this year when we learned that Nestor has cancer, but given the elapsed time and lack of symptoms (other than the very obvious lump in his abdomen), his prognosis now seems very good.
• Parties!: From 2 fabulous wedding showers to many poker nights at our house to the best Cinderella Slumber-Party Themed Bachelorette Party a girl could dream of, we had a great time partying with friends and family this year.
• Our Humble Abode: At the beginning of 2011, we had only about 3 months experience as home owners.  Now, we have a small do-it-yourself project turned full bathroom remodel, new oven and washing machine, and new furniture to add to our home making experience.
• Travel: We took several trips this year - Hot Springs, Arkansas to watch North Texas Basketball in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament; Tortola and Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands for our Honeymoon (with a stop in Puerto Rico and an unplanned stop in Miami); Los Angeles, California to watch more North Texas Basketball; and several trips to Houston to see my parents, grandparents, and cousins.
• Getting Crafty: I've started to get a little crafty this year.  I made a door hanger 'H' that's now on our front door.  I finished Christmas stockings for me and John.  And I even made some custom jewelry.  I've been taken into the Pinterest phenomenon and I'm excited to try more new things.
  
• April 30th: John and I made everything official and tied the knot! We had a great time at our wedding and cannot express enough the thanks we have to our family and friends who helped to make the day special. I think a good summation of how things went is this - Several people asked me after the wedding, "If you had it to do over, what would you do differently?"  I have pondered this question over the months since our nuptials, and I can honestly answer: "Nothing. I wouldn't want to change a thing."

All this leads to the question: What lies ahead for the Hansens in 2012? Obviously, we don't know for sure, but a few things are on our horizon:

• Another trip to Hot Springs for more Hot Hoops
• A vacation to Greece for me to meet some of John's family
• Maybe, possibly, conceivably, after more consideration, and with no promises - taking steps in the direction that could result in me needing to make another stocking.
• Some new home ownership adventures in renovation
• A new client experience for me that will likely be my first introduction to the world of traveling for work
• And hopefully many other fun and exciting things

I hope 2011 was a good year for you and yours, and I wish you all the best possible 2012.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

We went down to Houston to see my parents for Christmas this year.  For Christmas Eve, my parents' church asked our family to light the Christ Candle during the Christmas Eve service.  My grandparents, parents, and cousins (who have 2 kids) are all members of the same church, so there are 4 generations of the family that are members there.  Jonathan, John, and I joined the group to make a pack of 11 to light the candle... of course, only 1 person lit the candle and 1 other read the scripture... I guess the other 9 of us were just for moral support.  :)  After the service, we went to my cousins' house for a Mediterranean themed Christmas Eve Celebration.  We ate some great food and enjoyed socializing with family and friends.

4 Generations of the Moore Family - ready to light the candle at church

We did the traditional Walton Family Christmas on Sunday morning, including stockings and gift exchange.  Then, the rest of the family in town joined us for a nice lamb dinner and Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

The 4 stockings on the left have been around for at least 26 years.  Mom started working on a stocking for John a few weeks ago... It's not quite finished though, so it was pinned to another stocking for the big day.

The tree at my parents' house just before we tore into the presents

We had a fun and relaxing time with my family, and when there weren't Christmas related festivities, we (Jonathan, John, and I) could generally be found on the couch...

Wii Fun - They're playing basketball in this shot

In addition to several Wii games, we also had fun adding new Miis to our collection... including Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Abe (Lincoln), and Sacajawiia (spelling intentional - Jiisus and Einsteiin have been in our Mii family for a while).

We enjoyed our Christmas with the Waltons and are looking forward to Christmas with the Hansens later this week.

Merry Christmas, All!

A New Perspective

I was a late adopter to the smart phone phenomenon, particularly given my job in IT Consulting.  When I graduated from college, I still used a Motorola RAZR (There's a new RAZR out now, but I'm talking about that old flip phone that was "amazingly thin" in 2003.)  For almost 2 years, I held out against strong peer pressure to get a smart phone - I really didn't see the need to spend $400 on a phone and then spend an extra $30 each month to use it.

iPhone 3G - My First Smart Phone

Eventually, though, I gave in and decided that the ability to check work email without lugging my computer around was worth the data plan.  We have a family plan with AT&T, and at the time (late 2009), the only option that met my criteria for a good smart phone with AT&T was the iPhone.  The 3S was already released, so I was able to buy a refurbished iPhone 3G for $50 from our employee discount program (I still wasn't going to pay a lot for the phone).

I had that phone for a little over 2 years.  For a while, it was quite nice and was a dramatic change to how I used my phone.  I never did figure out how to do some things I wanted (I didn't want to deal with jail breaking my phone), but it met my needs.  When iOS4 came out, the phone's performance deteriorated significantly.  Also, all the apps updated to fit with the capabilities of iPhone 4.  My iPhone 3G couldn't keep up.  My favorite example was to have someone else with a smart phone click on their Facebook app at the same time I did, and then watch the phones load the app.  My phone would take somewhere between 30 - 75 seconds to open the Facebook app... everyone else's phone opened the app in 10 seconds or less (generally less).

Since my iPhone purchase 2 years ago, AT&T has added several Android phones to their options, and I was pleased to get a much more customizable phone... It's a handheld computer; I ought to be a able to customize it like a computer (of course, I've never had an apple computer, but from what I hear, the "no options" thing appears to be a general apple issue).  Anywho, I again used my employee discounted phone rate and was able to get a refurbished phone for $0.01!  The case I got cost more than the phone!

HTC Inspire - My New Phone

I research for a while on which phone I would get to replace my iPhone.  The HTC Inspire was one of AT&T's first 4G phones.  It came out in early 2011, and I patiently waited to see how people reviewed it after having it for several months.  (It was very hard to be patient). I finally got my new phone last week, and after about 1 week of ownership - I Love It!

The hardware is nice and sleek, the camera takes much better pictures (If you want an example, just compare pictures in my recent posts - the stocking pictures taken with my iPhone and the Santa Stacker picture with my new phone), the screen is nice and big, and it still fits in my pocket.

The real improvement though is in the Android operating system.  I love the widget concept that means I don't have to open my favorite apps to get a quick view.  The people app links all my Facebook, Outlook (work), and Google (personal) contacts in one place, with no duplicates.  The Google Talk app puts my voice mails into text so I can read them in addition to hearing them (it's not perfect, but still pretty awesome).

I have done a lot of customization, and there's still more that I plan to tinker with to configure it just the way I want.  The Android is definitely a more open operating system.  I love all the options - It's giving me a whole new perspective on smart phones.

Yay for my new toy!

Spectacle of Spectacles - Revisited

A little while back, I posted about our Spectacle of Spectacles.  Well, since then, I had an eye doctor visit myself and got a new prescription... that means: More New Glasses.

If you're keeping count from the last post, I had 2 pairs of prescription glass that I wore in my old prescription: 1 pair of sunglasses and 1 regular pair.  I've retired both of those pairs of glasses and added 3 new pairs to the mix.  :)

Behold:

One of the Perks of John's Job

Vendor Gifts!

In the spirit of holiday giving, several of the vendors that John works closely with have sent holiday gifts to his office... I particularly like John's vendor gifts because many come in the form of chocolate, and we all know who that's really for.  Though, John does get to eat some himself.

This Santa Stacker had goodies in each level - An assortment of mints, peppermint bark, white chocolate and peppermint covered pretzels, and peppermint - chocolate popcorn.

I particularly liked the Santa Stacker because it doubles as a new Christmas decoration that I can reuse in coming years... though I wish it could also magically refill itself with chocolate each year too. :)