Vain Amy April Report

 Looking back, it feels like April was the longest freaking month of my life. Probably because it was absolutely jam packed with stuff.

If only, Kitty. If only.

There was good stuff (my brother's wedding, the end of tax season, beautiful spring weather at the end of the month).

There was bad stuff (death of a friend, work trip at the worst absolute time, tax season, and lots and lots of rain).

But, it honestly seems like all of that was so long ago.

So, it's time for an update on my year-long attempt to get into the best shape ever, take care of my skin, read lots of pages of books, and make movies. Let's see how I did, shall we?

PHYSICAL: So, yeah, I actually didn't lose any pounds this month. SADZ.

 Fuccccccckkk.

It's true.

The good news is that most of my favorite clothes are fitting again, but the bad news is that the scale didn't move at all. I have implemented a new plan, however. Normally, I try to eat healthy. Cause, ya know, when it's not the Year of Vain Amy, I'm wayyyyy more concerned about my health than I am about my weight. 

Well, fuck that (for now). Eating my regularly healthy diet hasn't been producing the immediate effects I'd like (I'm impatient and that makes me irresponsible). So.... I'm resorting to extreme measures. And, I'm eating low carb. Which... if you're a lazy vegetarian like I am, that means all the fake meat and all the cheese and lots of eggs. Eggs WITH the yolk, because... low carb, yo.

It's actually pretty ridiculous and I'm only doing this for a few weeks to get a little "jumpstart" on some weight loss (which I will inevitably gain right back when I start eating carbs again). It actually feels pretty disgusting. Normally, I don't eat cheese or eggs at home, so, eating a lot of that now because it's easy and I'm lazy just feels kind... gross. But also tasty. I did freak myself and The KoB out a little a couple of Saturdays ago when I all the sudden I went numb on the left side of my face and my gums and the tip of my tongue went numb. WEIRD. Was I stroking out? TOO MUCH CHEESE?

So, yeah, I know it's not healthy, but it always produces results for me, so, I'm sticking with it for another week or two.

Also, yes, STRENGTH TRAINING. I know... muscle burns more fat. I'll get around to it. Eventually. By November, bitches, I am going to be hella in shape. (hopefully, at this rate).

BOOKS: Success! I finished two books in April, (I'm still wayyy behind in my 25 page average per day goal, but I've got time).

The Lost Island by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston

This book grabbed me from the first page. Which, I have to say... even in quick reads like this, is often not the case. It was a super fun and quick read and gave me a chance to geek out a bit to my Latin roots (I took 4 years of Latin in high school and the last two years were just mythology and culture and it was awesome). 

I will say that the beginning of the book was super detailed and meticulous (lots of detail about boats and equipment on the boats,etc) and then the last half felt SUPER rushed (Oh, here's an island, with a crazy inhabitant, and climax, and wrap it all up neatly. DONE). 

 I do recommend it though.

I Could Never Be So Lucky Again by Jimmy Doolittle and Carroll Glines

So, I bought this particular book, because the bookstore I was at didn't have the book I was looking for: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Cap. Ted Lawson. My brother had recommended Thirty Seconds to me, after I told him about Unbroken. I thought... well... the Autobiography of Jimmy Doolittle, is going to cover Doolittle's Raid, so, I'll just get that.

I'm glad I read it, because Jimmy Doolittle was a true American Hero and Patriot. But, wow... the amount of detail about planes in this book was astounding and I am embarrassed to say... a bit of a struggle for me to get through. Like, I almost feel like I could have read Jimmy Doolittle's Wikipedia page and taken away the same amount of information. Because, for someone like me, that is just not interested in airplanes, I just didn't retain a lot of it. Or frankly, understand some of it.

God, I feel like such an asshole saying that, because of the subject matter. The book was also well written and super detailed, but, it just reinforced that my non-fiction interests lie in books about specific events and as such, biographies are usually too broad for my tastes.

That being said, It's amazing the lives that people can lead and what all can be done in a lifetime. If you are into airplanes or biographies, I highly suggest this book. Jimmy Doolittle led an incredible life.

SKIN: Meh. I'm still struggling with keeping up my routine every day. But, I can tell that my skin is looking better. I also bought some new primer and a makeup setting spray that I am LOVING. So... with makeup, my skin is looking totes fab.

MOVIES: I'm going to order some editing software and I am tinkering a bit with my GoPro. I've got some plots/scenes ready to shoot this summer. So, I anticipate some major strides with this hobby in the coming months.

Overall, I feel like April was kind of a fail. But, onward and upward.. May is going to be awesome.

March- Vain Amy Report

So, March.

Yeah, well, let's start with the good news. The good news is I didn't GAIN any weight. Which, seems like a victory, since it was my lowest running month in... probably years? (I'm too lazy to look this up) and I wasn't diligently counting calories like I should have been.

When I stepped on the scale at the end of the month, I was actually pretty thrilled that it was unchanged. So... Victory!?

As far as my reading goes, I didn't finish a book in March (womp, womp), BUT, I am in the middle of like 4, so, I'm hoping for a big April book/page total.

And videos... apparently, I made a video in South Carolina when I was drunk that night, but I don't remember doing that and I am also too afraid to watch it (is there anything worse than hearing/seeing your drunk self on video???), so... I'm counting that as a fail, as well.

I have been doing well with my skincare regime, though, and I feel like my skin is looking better all the time! So... Yay?

March is always one of those months where I find myself saying... Ohh... I'll start doing that after April 15th. And it sucks, because I'm one of those people that is always trying to start a new something... habit, hobby, training schedule, etc. So, I feel like my life is on hold for Feb-April. And, I kind of feel guilty even blaming tax season this year, because, if I'm being honest (I'm about to jinx the shit out of myself right now). Tax Season for me this year has been.... pretty mild. I mean, I've been SUPER productive when I'm at work, and most days, I'm working at least 10 hours a day. BUT, I haven't had many late nights or worked much at all on the weekends. I think I've finally learned how to juggle multiple projects and how/when to do my work the most efficiently.

That being said, I have high expectations for April (even though it does involve 2 weeks of tax season and some travel). I bought a new yoga dvd and a dvd that involves using a treadmill and weights. I plan on doing the yoga 5 times a week (it has a 15 minute option) and the other dvd hopefully at least once a week (its only 30 minutes) and I'm hoping to be able to up my running a bit. And I am going to crack down on my eating and start counting calories again. (There are a lot of "ands" in that paragraph).

The ship hasn't gone completely off course, but it's time to route it back to center.

February Vain Amy Recap

The Good:
So, after only losing 1 pound the whole month of January, I am happy to report that I lost 5 pounds in February. So, I'm now officially down 6 pounds.

Let's celebrate with beer and cheese and sugar and salt, shall we?

Oh, yeah. I guess not.

I am choosing to bask in the joy of actually losing weight, instead of realizing that after 2 months of diligent dieting, I still have like 20 pounds to lose. At this rate... the Year of Vain Amy, might indeed be a WHOLE FUCKING YEAR. But... That's okay. I am okay with that.

The Lame:
My other big project of the year is to up my reading. And so far I have failed pretty miserably at that. I TECHNICALLY didn't finish a book in February. But, I did finish one on March 1st, and since February is a short month and since this is my fucking blog and I do whatever I want, I'm counting it.

At the conclusion of the book, my daily page count for the year is a measly 16 pages. (My goal is to average 25 pages a day). This was the book:

13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi

by Mitchell Zuckoff

I had been wanting to read this book for a long time, because, if I'm being totally honest here... I kept hearing "Benghazi" in the news and I really didn't even know WHAT happened there, let alone what REALLY happened there as the book title implies. How sad is that? As an Human Being, I should really pay more attention to the National News, but, gosh.. the news is so brutally summarized, sterile, agenda-laden, and neatly packaged, that half the time, I don't even really get anything from it.

Now, since I came into this book pretty blindly... I found it absolutely riveting. Also sad. Also disgusting. And with a feeling of... the World can be a really fucked up place and there is so much god-damn red tape and secrecy and bureaucracy and chains of command that sometimes we have to just let ourselves be cut off at the knees and damn that sucks. The fact that sometimes sacrifices have to be made for what SOME people believe is the greater good is just heartbreaking and frustrating. I am not even going to broach the subject of what couldva, shouldva, or wouldva been done, because I have no idea.

But, damn, I have so much respect for our armed forces, contracted civilians, public servants, and just anyone who sticks their literal necks out to do what their bosses, superiors, President's, etc tell them to do. I cannot even fathom having that type of job and I am so thankful that other people are braver and smarter than me. I sit here in my cushy cubical and avoid listening to my voicemails and prepare taxes and do bookkeeping with no concerns about safety. I am so fucking lucky. 

Anyway, it was a really good read and a tragic story. The end of the book had photographs, including one of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead, being carried by a friendly Libyan to the hospital. I lost it. So sad.

There isn't really a good way to segway from that serious topic... So I apologize in advance for that.

Also Lame:
My Movie-making. I charged my Go Pro one day and that's all I did with it in February. I need to remember to take it with me to places, because when I got trapped at The KoB's during the ICE WEEKEND, it would have been fun to video various things (e.g. attempting to get my car our for the 14th time).


Things to work on in March:
So, obviously, I'm going to continue with the dieting... but, I'm also hoping to get into some kind of routine with some weights. I found out on Saturday that I am a weak, weak person while trying to move a sofa. And I'm kind of sick of that. So...I need to throw around some weights and tone up a bit.

Also, I don't know about you, but I was kinda inspired by Rhonda Rousey... Badass.

READING. The good news is that I finished Gossip Girl during the Ice Storm. (I actually miss it, is that sad?) But the bad news is that I've started watching Friday Night Lights. SO GOOD. AND, I've gotten addicted to a phone game called Covet Fashion.

OMG, it's like crack.

So, Reading is still taking a back seat to both of those distractions. I'm going to try to set a rule in March, that on my lunch breaks, I don't watch any television, I just read. And maybe I can try to not start ANOTHER episode of FNL at 8:45pm, and instead just go to bed and read for a bit. It's not like I have to FORCE myself to read. I love reading, it's just I get in these habits of binge watching television shows or paying money to play a game on my phone. (YES, I've spent $15 on upgrades for that stupid game. Yes, I'm embarrassed).

So, that's February and what's hopefully on tap in March!

January 2015 Review

As a sign that I am REALLY COMMITTED to this Year of Vain Amy, I've decided to do monthly wrap-ups on my progress.

My main goal for the year, as you know, is to get in the BEST SHAPE OF MY LIFE. Which first of all... means losing weight.

Me, in 2014.

Man, I miss that year.

So, I took the first step on Dec 30th and stood on the scale and was horrified. But, I started counting calories and I committed to losing weight and getting into shape. And as of Jan.30th, I weighed.... 

1 FUCKING POUND LESS. 

Ugh. I am pretty disappointed. BUT, this isn't my first rodeo with losing weight, so, I know that if I just keep sticking with it, the pounds will start to fall off. And, if I'm really looking on the bright side of things... at least I didn't gain any weight, right? It's the YEAR of vain Amy, not the month. It's going to be okay. 

As far as the keeping up with my skin care regime, that's going better. I managed to go through the whole process most days and nights (although, I did skip a few nights and just wiped my makeup off instead). And my skin is looking better. It's dry as the fucking mojave desert, but it's less splotchy.

My reading wasn't quite up to par this month. I finished one book:

Recommend.

 

Which put me at a measly 19 pages per day count. (My goal is 25 pages a day). My main problem is that I've started watching Gossip Girl from the first episode on Netflix and so, most of my free time lately has been consumed with watching that. It's a sickness. But, I'm not embarrassed by my enjoyment of a lame, teeny bopper show. I'm going to try to limit myself on the number of episodes I watch a day, so that I can commit more time to getting some quality reading done. I'm about 1/3 of the way through a book right now and I've got a bunch of others on my "to read" list.

 

I tried to shoot some video with my GoPro this month, but upon uploading it to my computer, I realized that it had been set to photo. So, instead of 5 minutes of video, I ended up with 200 photos. FAIL. 

But my biggest fail of the month came with the music resolution. I'm still on the Podcast train. And, honestly, I'm just going to completely give up on this resolution to spend more time listening to music. It's dumb. However, I am starting to run out of back episodes of my favorite Podcasts to listen to... so if anyone has any suggestions... feel free to let me know! My favorite shows are RadioLab, Here's the Thing, Invisibilia, Serial (the first 4 episodes, at least), and This American Life. RECOMMEND AWAY.

 

January wasn't the best month of RESULTS for my resolutions. But, surprisingly, I still feel good about the progress and about moving forward.