Whipped Into Shape (Part 1)

"'Cause size two clothes don't come to those too lazy to sweat!"

I never thought of myself as a particularly chubby person, to be honest, but I'm not healthy and that's a problem. I have gained a decent amount of weight in the past year or two and I'm working to get it off. Starting right now (well, actually yesterday, but...whatever).

Jess, over at Half of Jess, is starting a weigh-in challenge called Drop Dead Gorgeous by December and I'm into it. I'm especially into it because it focuses more on making you a better person and making you a healthier person than on being the skinniest you can be. I'm combining this with the rules of Bethenny Frankel's Naturally Thin book.

Here's why: I am entirely too young to be as unhealthy as I am. I would really like to make a change and what better time to start than now? I have three days off a week from class, so that's plenty of gym time to get in. My main goal is to be able to actually start running. I realize getting ready to do this by December is kind of stupid, but my college has an indoor track, so I can use that when Pittsburgh weather gets me down.

Once I get a scale (or find someone with Wii Fit), I plan on taking a picture (because part of Jess' challenge is taking positive pictures of yourself weekly) and weighing in. Yes, I said it. My weight for all to read. I am going balls to the wall to get this done and I have multiple support systems to help, including my dear momma, my friend from high school and fellow RA, Caitlin, our GA Chris, and now Jess and everyone else participating in Drop Dead Gorgeous by December. A support system helps, especially in making sure that you don't get lazy (like I probably will within like two weeks).

I'm very excited to start this and it'll be interesting to watch this attempt, especially living in a dorm and having a meal plan. There are healthier alternatives on campus, but...not too many. My two goals for DDGBD (which is also on Twitter, check it out) are to start running, like I said before, and to stop eating out as much (which will help save some money!). I'm a senior in college, I really need to start budgeting and worrying about money and going to grad school.

In other news, SORRY I've been so MIA. I started RA training and that owned my soul for the past two weeks. However, the rest of this building staff is FANTASTIC and it's been so much fun. I'm so glad that I'm surrounded by such great people. :)

Classes start tomorrow/Tuesday for me since I have no class MWF (WOO!). I can't believe summer's over already :( However, this is going to be the year, I can feel it. :)

******EDIT/UPDATE:******

So, here is the weight: 138 with clothes on as of about a half an hour ago. I hear you shouldn't weigh yourself at the end of the day and I have clothes on, so I'm really probs 135, but that's still a lot for being so short.

Ignore my awkward facial expression lol! Good luck to anyone else who's doing DDGBD! :)

"Whipped Into Shape" from Legally Blonde: The Musical; 2007

Stronger

Here in this diary, I write you visions of my summer.

This Ataris song came on while I was driving to work this morning. It made me so happy and I found it very appropro given my thoughts on the summer and what's to come in the busy year.

Tomorrow is a monumental day. Not only am I moving in to my senior year of college (no, classes don't start already, I just have RA training), but it's the last night I'm spending in my house. I never particularly liked my house, but it's a little sad. My mom and my stepfather are getting a divorce. The end of a marriage is always sad, but to be honest, I'm a little relieved this is happening.

I was one of those kids that never entirely liked the idea of my mother dating someone, especially the older I got, because I'm a self-centered only child. To be frank. However, even though I was going to college fifteen minutes away from home, I knew it'd be hard on my mom (me, too, but I'm better at distracting myself). So, I was happy that this guy came along to keep her a little less lonely while I struggled through my freshman year of college. However, that's the only reason why I was happy she got married. Selfish, I know.

Now it's deteriorating because he's a douche and...if my mom were more upset, I'd be upset...and I know it'll hit her soon and she'll be sadder, but I really do think she's better without him. She wants to travel and get her Ph.D and maybe live in a different country for a while to teach English (she's actually probably doing this) and he just wasn't into it. Now she'll be able to come into her full potential. Eat, Pray, Love honestly couldn't come at a better time.

Oh, well.

In happier news, I FINALLY read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, the first two novels in the fantastic Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Stop reading this immediately and go to Amazon.com and order them. While you're there, you might as well preorder the third and final novel, Mockingjay (due out at the end of the month), because you're going to need to know what happens next. I haven't been this involved in a story and a world since Harry Potter. And you've read my posts, you know how much I care about the world J.K. created.

They take place in a dystopian society where the evil government (called The Capitol) shows its control over the twelve surrounding districts by forcing each district (by pulling names from a lottery) to have one male and female tribute partake in the annual Hunger Games - a fight to the death in an arena, televised for everyone to see. Fucked up, right? Sorry, there's no other way to describe how messed up that is. The story follows Katniss Everdeen and her life in District 12.

Anyway, it was fabulous and addicting. The first started a little slow, but quickly I was sucked into this world and I finished the last, say, two-hundred pages and the entire second one in about a day and a half or so. Speeds that have not been seen since I read The Deathly Hallows...or maybe even The Order of the Phoenix (I read Deathly Hallows slowly because I didn't want it to end). Suzanne Collins does an excellent job of dropping you into this world that you cannot get enough of. I'm not kidding. Scroll up and click that Amazon link, it goes right to the page.

So, while my summer's pretty much over, it's been an exciting couple of days (not necessarily in the positive sense with all the packing and a little sad air around the house). I'm not ready to go back, but I am kind of excited. Wish I could see Secondhand Serenade on the 11th and I'm still holding out hope I'll be done with training early enough to go! Fingers and toes crossed.

"Stronger" by Britney Spears; 2000

Tangled Up in Me

"Wanna know more, more, more about me?"

So, my dear friend Kaitlyn gave me the Versatile Blogger Award a few days ago (check out her blog, please, thanks!), which is so exciting and such a huge honor! She said such wonderful things about me and my blog and it was the first award I've gotten!

The way it works is like this: If you received this award, you have to share seven things about yourself and then give the award to fifteen other blogs. However, since Kaitlyn only managed to come up with ten, I'll try to match that number instead of fifteen.

Seven things about me. Let's see:

1.) Despite the fact that I never really cared for girls in high school, I joined a sorority in college (Alpha Sigma Tau, WOO!) and actually it is the best decision I ever made. I've made some of my best friends and formal recruitment was a great way to beat the homesick feeling I was having my first year at college. It has honestly changed my life to have such a constant support system away from home and it has opened up so many doors, too, that I cannot imagine my college education without the lovely women of Beta Delta.

This is my lovely pledge class, SNMC '08 <3

2.) I LOVE football. I don't give two shits about hockey and I'm from Pittsburgh, so baseball is not even real, but I bleed black and gold and I love my Steelers no matter what. Even after the sad little season that we had last year, no matter where I move and relocate to, my heart will always belong to Steeler Nation.

Me and a few of my sisters went to the Steelers Victory Parade two years ago :)

3.) I'm addicted to Twitter. I tweet often, I tweet at celebrities, I tweet at Bravolebrities. I just love everything about it. At first I thought it was stupid, but it's a surprisingly simple way to stay in touch. Yes, it is a little egotistical, but who cares? It's fun! Follow me: @heytherebriana

4.) The Harry Potter series and Watership Down changed my life. Prior to the release of Harry Potter, I always knew that I wanted to be a writer, but after reading the first novel, it became clear that there were no other options. Whether it's screenwriting, playwriting, fiction writing, critiquing - I know that I'm supposed to be a writer. Thank you, J.K. Rowling. Richard Adams further solidified this, in his striking ability to tell a political story from the point of view of rabbits. This book doesn't receive nearly enough credit. Read it right now.

5.) I'm obsessed with television and movies books and music and pop culture. I'm hopefully going to NYU or UCLA for a Ph.D in Cinema Studies. Bravo is one of my favorite channels, ever. I'm in love with the Real Housewives series and I think that Bethenny Getting Married? is one of the most refreshing shows on TV. I love movies, I love midnight book release parties. I love it all. I also feel an odd connection to Andy Warhol, dunno.

6.) I'm pretty sure I should've been born in the 1910s to be alive in the 1920s. There's just something about that era that fascinates me. All that jazz, prohibition, Gatsby, I love it all. Flappers and speakeasies. It's my goal in life to throw a Prohibition party and I am so excited for the new show on HBO, Boardwalk Empire.

7.) Lastly! My mom is my best friend. I love her so much. We are seriously a real life, not rich, less dramatic version of Gilmore Girls. She had me when she was young, but accepted the love and support of my grandparents and I think having me so young really benefited our relationship. The combination of that her no-bullshit way of raising me. I thank God for my mother and I love her more than anything. She's my best friend, my rock, and my biggest fan. The Lorelei to my Rory. I'm 21 and will openly admit I love my momma :)

AND NOW!!!!!!! The blogs I pass this onto, in no particular order are as follows:

1.) Kaitlyn at Kaitlyn in Bookland

2.) Nathan at How I Roll

3.) Patrice at Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman

4.) Sara at The Bucket List

5.) Laura at Coffee, Chalk, and Flip Flops

6.) Dree at Defining Dree

7.) Heather at Boyfriend Challenged

8.) Penny Ann at Beauty in the Breakdown

9.) Paige at Awkward Sex and the City

And with that, I'm stuck at 9, which isn't so bad, I suppose. Thanks again, Kaitlyn :)

"Tangled Up in Me" by Skye Sweetnam; 2004