The Quarter-Century Anniversary of my Birth

It's my birthday! Quarter century. Woo hoo! It's my party and I'll cry if I... wait! That's not right. No crying today, any of you, 'cause it's my birthday.

I got flowers delivered to work during lunch today. Aren't they pretty? Thanks, Mom and Dad!

I started off my birthday week by painting pottery. Of course, since I'm slightly CDO (OCD for those who don't need things to be in alphabetical order), I didn't finish painting it yet so I have to go in another day to finish it, but it was nice to sit quietly and work on something artistic. I inadvertently eavesdropped on some girls at the table next to me who apparently all had terrible boyfriends and were on the verge of breaking up. Ah, the drama of college romance. And stop those disapproving glares. I wasn't intentionally listening in on their conversation; it's just hard to ignore when it was being broadcast to the room. 

To celebrate, I went out with a few gal pals for dinner. As I mentioned last Thursday, it's Restaurant Weeks, so we enjoyed a three course meal at Up Restaurant. After discussing dominant eyes and being the most intriguing table by testing out our ocular dominance while at the table, we tucked into our food. Here's what I ate:

First Course - Duck Lettuce Wraps: julianne english cucumbers, green onions, carrots, cilantro and

garlic chips, served with tangy hosin and sweet chili sauce

It was between that and Crispy Brussels Sprouts And Artichoke Hearts with truffle aioli, which fortunately LMR ordered.

 Second Course - Crispy Skin Half Duck with orange sauce and brussels sprouts

Though I didn't eat any, KAOS's Beef Short Ribs were fall-off-the-bone juicy...

Third Course - Flourless Chocolate Cake (yeah, yeah... not Paleo, but hey at least it's flourless, right?)

But because it was my birthday,  I got a free birthday cube, which allowed me to bring the flourless chocolate cake home for later.

Our post meal group photo, kindly taken by the gentleman working the valet stand:

A couple weeks ago I posted some goals that I wanted to accomplish by today, my birthday. Unfortunately, I didn't do so well at meeting all of them. As you're aware, I got sick the other week and so I just haven't been exercising much (whenever I have, I've been unable to breathe properly and end up light-headed) and have been failing at will power. The one thing that I did achieve was limiting alcohol consumption. In the past 3 weeks, I've averaged 1 drink per week. Though that's going to change this week due to birthday celebrations.

Anyways, I'm thinking about making weekly goals so that it's not so daunting. And it'd be like one goal per week. For instance, this week I want to make sure that I put in 30 minutes per day of physical activity, even if it's just walking. That's what I did this morning after waking up at 6:15 a.m. without an alarm. Woo hoo!

July Goals

I've mentioned lately that I need motivation. Those of you who know me personally know that I can have an iron will when it comes to eating healthy and working out. You should also know that sometimes I'm as weak-willed as any average Joe you meet walking down the street. I'm really good at sneaking snacks, even when I'm technically only "hiding" them from myself. As I mentioned a while ago, my mom has always tried to get me to eat healthy, and she succeeded for the most part. Despite this I wasn't a skinny child. I remember feeling uncomfortable with my weight in 3rd grade. My mom tried to be helpful, but sometimes it just made me either feel guilty or angry. I definitely remember times when my mom would glare at me for grabbing a second helping of whatever we had for dinner. Because of these glares, I indirectly developed my sneaking food habit. Whether or not I actually had (or have) skills at this is still unknown to me. And I guess I kind of view my unhealthy snacks as okay as long as nobody else notices. It's an accountability issue for me. And it's also the reason why I share my decision to go and attempt to stay Paleo with almost everyone. If everyone knows about my diet and I still eat something "bad," then I feel guilty.

So anyways, I need to set some short-term goals for myself that I feel are attainable for me. It's my birthday in three weeks and I think that's a good deadline these new goals. So my new short-term goals are as follows:

1. Run 4 miles without any breaks.
2. Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per day.
3. Cut out all processed sugars (no dark chocolate) and minimize natural sugar (fruit/honey) intake. - This one will be really tough since I usually turn to sweets when I'm stressed and work is in crazy-stressful mode right now.
4. Limit alcohol consumption.
5. Hold a wall sit for 2 minutes.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. Fingers crossed!