Exciting things that have happened since we last hung out:
· I spent the holidays in Orlando, Florida with a friend. Totally opted out of the whole holiday thing in the traditional sense. Christmas dinner was a Chicken & veggie pizza from Pizza Hut. Seriously. Then one day, we walked 7 miles in each direction just to get Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Uphill. Both ways. (ok, maybe not that last part. But 7 miles for real!)
· My (first) 29th birthday! Hilarious stories with our newest ‘single serving’ friends from Iowa, and my new imaginary husband.
· A new workout program! WOO!
· Me, dating. A LOT.
· Me, getting exhausted with dating! Lol
· Setting my ex up with a dating blogger. Yeah, that happened, and it was awesome.
· The Superbowl – Go Ravens!
· Valentine’s day…..xoxo
· Made plans to go to the Arnold Sport Festival 2013 – and meet a handful of my BAM girls!
The holidays were great. I spent December 23rd with my parents and opened gifts. As always, they were incredibly generous…highlights include a new watch – solar powered, so I’ll never have to replace a battery (or stop wearing a watch because I’m too lazy to replace a battery) – a bottle brush (hallelujah! They finally get it!), and a collapsible funnel. LOL I love my family. Hopped on a plane early on the 24th, and spent the following 9 days in warmer weather than my family and friends. No holiday decorations, no tree, no nothing. Just my bikini, and nice long walks every day. And Pizza Hut for Christmas dinner.
New Year’s Eve, we sat in the hot tub with a group of fun strangers until about 11:00pm when the pool closed, then raced to the room, got all prettied up, and went to the resort restaurant bar. We met a couple of brothers from Iowa (Hi guys!), and sat at the bar with our drinks, exchanging stories. At midnight, we threw napkins like confetti, then crashed a private party down the hall. This big, Italian family was celebrating their Matriarch’s 70th birthday, so we were instantly friends, OBVIOUSLY.
Once I was finally all pizza’d out and back on home turf, it was time to get dialed in for a new program. I took my (admittedly intentionally slightly embarrassing) “Before” pictures, and signed up for a couple of challenges. One was the www.bodybuilding.com $100k Transformation Challenge, and the other was the James Wilson 12 week challenge. I purchased the training program from James, and have been following faithfully ever since. It’s a big change from the way I typically work out, with a lot of circuit work and super-duper-sets with very short rest times, and full body focus rather than muscle group specific work each day of the week. I’ve seen some significant muscle gains, and plan to spend the next 6 weeks leaning out little by little – to look awesome in my bridesmaid dress for my best friend’s wedding in Mexico in April!
With the New Year, and a new program came a new focus: dating. Partly as a journey of self-discovery, partly because, well, who doesn’t want a partner in crime? Yes, I had an online profile. Yes, I met some STRAAAANGE characters. I went on some really bad dates, some really good ones, met good guys, weird guys, and even not-so-good guys. At one point, I was going on THREE OR MORE dates EVERY WEEKEND! It quickly grew exhausting, and I’ve since narrowed things down to a more manageable number of really great guys. I’m in the process of getting to know them better, and eventually will let my guard down and move onto relationships, but for now I’m comfortable where I am. Just trying to be as aware of all of the feelings involved as I can. The last thing I want to do is break hearts.
Speaking of breaking hearts, through the magic of facebook I came across a dating blog written by the roommate of a friend of a friend. After reading the first couple of entries, I was hooked, and started following her blog via Twitter. www.52FirstDates.ca is written by a girl who calls herself “La Blonde” and I’m fairly certain we were separated at birth. So naturally, I set her up with my ex. Yes, you read that correctly. I set my ex up with a random stranger who blogs about her dating life, and her mission to go on a date per week for a year. What could possibly go wrong? (As it turns out, Trolls – who claim to be friends and former friends of mine/ours – ripping me apart in the comments is what could go wrong) Check out dates 14, 15 and 16 with “the Z-man” to see the hilarity. Seriously though, I wish him well, and will be cheering for him (from afar) when he competes in his first fitness competition 3 weeks from now.
Superbowl happened. The Ravens won. There was nacho dip, and chicken wings. Need I say more?
Valentines day was amazing for me. Not for the reason that one would typically wax poetic either. This Valentines day was celebrated with Kidney-shaped cards - not hearts (FYI, Hallmark doesn’t make kidney shaped valentines). One year ago, on February 14th, my Dad has his surgery to remove his cancer-riddled kidney. A year later, he’s still cancer free, and happy and healthy. It really brings VDay back to a positive sentiment for the cynic in me!
That pretty much brings me up to this week. Yesterday, I booked my flight to Columbus, OHIO for the 2013 Arnold Sports Festival this weekend! This is an event that I’ve been trying to get to for a few years now, but until this year haven’t been able to get it together. I’m VERY excited to even be going, but the thrill is heightened even more by the fact that while I’m there, I’ll finally get to meet a handful of my BAM girls face to face, in person. I don’t know that I can express how important these women have become to me over the past 15 or so months, and I’m going to hug their guts right out of them!!! J
I PROMISE I will blog about the weekend’s events, give special shoutouts to my girls, and be ALLLLL over the Twitterverse with it. If you’re not following me yet, please do so – it’ll be fun!
Above all else, remember to love what you can, when you can, and I’ll see you at the Arnold!
Xo
Mandy
