Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!  I sit here, once again with a frozen yogurt (today Lemon Squeeze), ready to tell you about my day!  It didn't go quite as planned, unfortunately.  Last night I had been hoping to drive to my apartment in my college town (I have been spending Winter Break at my mom's about an hour away) for a party and then spending the night there so I could do some grocery shopping today (and cleaning out of the fridge and cupboards).  Unfortunately I was stuck at my job at a pizza place (I work at the stores in my home town during holidays and my college town during school) until after midnight.  So I came home - went to bed - and slept in til lunch time (failing to have breakfast - that goal will have to wait til tomorrow :( ).  Though lunch was fast food due to lack of food in our cabinets (We recently returned from a trip visiting family) - I had a kids meal in hopes to intake less food.  It was enough to sate me, which shows I don't need Extra Super-Sized meals.  Mom and I went to the grocery store.  I have an awesome mom who purchased some food for me (non-perishable) so I could take it home.  What I'm most excited about?  Really cool Low-Fat Caramel Singles so I can slice an apple and dip them in caramel for a to-go snack!

After arriving home - I began practicing my flute.  My lips now feel as though they will fall off.  However - I this is one of the ways I am bettering my inner self - as mentioned in a comment by Leslie (thank you for the comments by the way!).  You'll probably hear a lot about my practicing.  After my final his last semester I was help back from continuing on to the 200 level lessons that I was hoping to move on to.  Instead of getting upset - I got pissed off, and now I'm determined to show those professors what I'm really about!  You better believe it.  It may seem odd that getting mad gets me happy - but having that goal and working to it is such an adrenaline rush!  On the plus side - people do not realize how much of a work out playing flute it.  With the muscles tensed and the breath control - I'm sore and out of breath by the end.

Today's exercise?  Shovelling Snow (I consider this cardio)!  Living in the wonderful state of Idaho - snow is no stranger!  Last night we got a couple inches of snow - and my mom has a nice big walkway and driveway.  My mom started while I was practicing - but I still got out there and helped with her driveway - as well as the driveway across the street where a man who recently suffered hear problems.  He was trying to shovel his own driveway, and we felt terrible for him.  Not wanting another ambulence visit we went over, sent him inside, and finished it ourselves.  I made sure I worked really hard so I would burn more calories.  When I got back inside - I was sweating.  According to calorie calculators - I burned somewhere between 400-800 calories.  For my Self.com log - I went in the middle at 600.

Tonight before work I am planning on having some Amy's Organic Lentil Soup for dinner to avoid the tempting mess ups at work.  Work I also count as some exercise since I'm often running around or slapping pizzas out or whatever.  Right now I am watching a show about the morbidly obese people - which is GREAT motivation.  They're on The Learning Channel - if anyone else is interested in checking them out.  About people who eat over 10,000 calories a day!  It's disgusting!  As for now - I'm off to do the flat abs workouts that were featured as the tear outs in this month's Self Magazine!

Oh - and another goal I forgot to add in yesterday's blog.  Try to ride my cute Electra Townie Bike (electrabike.com) to school every day - even if it's 40 degrees below zero!  You better believe it!

AB WORKOUT UPDATE:  Oh. My. OW!  That is an amazing workout!  30 minutes later I'm sweating - shaking - and can feel my abs tightening alread!  According to Self.com's  calculator it only burns about 150 calories - but I can tell that doing this working 3 days a week on non-consecutive days (as suggested by the magazing) - is going to make me HOT!