Free falling

Finally, after years and years trying to find someone to go with and trying to find time/money to go- I went skydiving on Sunday!

I was so lackadasical in the days leading up to it that I was expecting to freak out a little when we finally went up in the plane- or at least when we were standing in the doorway. You know how you always see people on tv or in movies that are hanging onto the side of the plane and screaming? I thought for sure that would be me. :) But nope. I was not nervous at all- it was an absolute blast!

May have to go again soon... :)

So this is my 10th day of the cleanse (over 1/3 of the way there- woohoo!). Things are going really well- I can already feel the difference. So far I've learned that I'm awful at taking pills and that blue-green algae supplements smell funny. But I also determined today that I no longer miss most of the things that I can't eat or drink. I miss the activities that are associated with them. Happy hours after work, being able to stop and have dinner when I'm out window shopping with a friend. I have no problem going out and not drinking- but when it's a two person happy hour, that usually makes the other person feel weird. I'm also spending a LOT of time cooking- which is good, and usually fun. But man, it takes a LOT of time.

But for the most part I haven't really felt too deprived yet. The biggest test will come tomorrow, with a good friend's all-day bachelorette party. Mmmm... champagne.... Maybe I can pretend with sparkling water? :(

Well I saved my pennies and I saved my dimes

Come Sunday, I will be the proud owner of a brand new (to me) car!

This is the first car that I have totally choosen all by myself, and I am in love with it. It's very me.

I thought I wasn't going to be able to get it at first, because the dealer wouldn't budge on the price- but no one tells Holly no! ;) I went around him and got it anyway- for the price I wanted. Love, love, love!

But I won't go-o-o

Consistency.

Definitely not something I've had in a while. Not something I've ever really needed.
But when you've been living out of suitcases for years and you finally get to a point where you say 'Hey, wouldn't it be nice to be able to hang a couple pictures on the wall for a while?'- and then you work hard to be able to make that happen- and it does- then you find out that just as you're starting to climb the ladder of normalcy, someone cuts a few rungs from under you again.

Blast.

Maybe normalcy was never really my thing anyway.

let the rain fall down, I'm coming clean

Never one to be without an impending personal goal, I've started a 28 day cleansing program. I've heard from friends who have had success on programs like this, and decided it was time to try one for myself. I'm sick of being unhealthy, enjoy and challenge and like to learn new things about myself, so I was excited to give this a shot.

Turns out I was in for a bit more than I bargined for. Not only is the program vegan (no problems there) but you can have no processed foods whatsoever, no sugar, no caffiene, no booze(!), nothing containing an ingredients you can't pronounce. I am normally a pretty healthy eater to begin with, mostly organic foods, mostly vegan diet, etc- but even most of the things in my cupboards will be obsolete for the next month. The book that I bought also came with a bunch of recipies and tips, etc. So I am actually having fun cooking. And while I normally hate cooking for one, it is actually handy because one meal usually lasts me about 3 days of lunches and dinners. So it probably is really a time saver in the end.

So now I am on my 6th day of the cleanse. I think (hope!) that I am over the initial hump. The first few days without coffee were hard. I weaned myself off at the beginning of the year and unfortunately let myself get sucked back in when I started this new job. It doesn't help that Target now carries dunkin donuts brand coffee grounds!

I thought for sure I would slip up this weekend when my dad was visiting. I took him to the Uptown bar and grill for lunch and was starting to panic when I was looking through the menu. What in the world can you order at ANY restaurant, let alone a place like this, that will fit in the program?! Turns out I underestimated that place once again. One of their signature dishes are veggie tacos so I ordered that and left the shells, eating the veggies that were inside it with salsa. Now I guess if you're going to be picky, I don't actually know if the ingeredients they use in their salsa are all cleanse-friendly, but I thought I did pretty well!

Anyway- wish me luck, and don't hate me if I turn down happy hour invites, or more likely, come anyway and make you drink alone, for the next month. :)

On another note- I am deep in the throws of car shopping. Thought I'd be celebrating today with a lovely and shiny new (to me) car- but negotiations didn't go as well as anticipated- so it's time for plan B. Kind of disappointing, but I'm hoping the new direction will work out better in the end anyway.

You just turn your pretty head and walk away

Seems to me...

...that if you have to ban comments you're probably saying some stuff you know you'll get razzed for. If you have something that you feel needs to be said you should at least have enough guts to be able to defend it.

Meet you halfway... got nothing to say...

Things my colleagues learned about me last night:

a) While I talk a good game, I am not so good at Big Buck Hunter
b) I am a psuedo (bible camp taught) pool shark

Let's go somewhere they might discover us

I wonder at what point, if ever, we ever feel like we know what we are doing in life? Is it always going to be a series of educated (sometimes blind) guesses at what is really the best way forward? Or is there some magical point in the impending future where I will say, 'Yep, now I've really got it figured out'?

With an ever so slight side-step in topic, I am simply in love with my new job. I've been here a little over a month so far, and while I'm obviously still in the honeymoon stage I think this is somewhere I could see myself for a long haul. I have complete autonomy in the project that I am working on and a lot of room to flex my creative muscles and make it my own, which I love.

However, I wonder if anyone realizes that I have absoutely no idea what I'm doing?

You'd think after the 12 million interviews (ok, 5) I had for this position that they'd have a decent grasp of my capabilities, so why do I still feel like I'm in over my head every once in a while? It's a fleeting feeling mostly... coming in waves at times like reviewing my job spec and offer letter initially, then setting my performance goals and project timeline, and now starting the program development and getting pulled into other projects before I even have a grasp on this one. I will say that so far I have managed to swim (not sink)- and feel my way along with great results. One month (to the day) from my start date I presented my inital assessment findings to a room full of key stakeholders- and I think it went well, despite the crickets that I heard chirping when I asked for feedback. But in this arena sometimes no news is good news, and you can bet I would have heard a lot if they thought I was heading in the wrong direction.

Off to LA tomorrow for the last journey of the assessment phase. Lance is coming out on Thursday and I'm excited for a fabulous adventure. Then Friday we'll meet up with Dawn to see her place, and celebrate her birthday and partake in general merriment... and hopefully get a tan. ;) As much as I've been enjoying my summer to the fullest, my paleness (or rather jaundice for those of us of yellow hue) is shameful.

Other than that, only other plans for the next couple weeks are reconnecting with some friends and family that life has been too crazy for lately, figuring out a possible mother/daughter European adventure for sometime this fall and starting my Kilimanjaro training plan in earnest- that'll give me a good 6 months of training- and I need it!