Hey. I just wanted to say that I am alive and recovering from my social media hangover. Times have been a bit hectic, and I’ve been a bit distracted by a quarter-life crisis; but I am fine because I am about to go on vacation! Saul and I are going to Spain to see his family and will be back on the 23rd. I promise to return by then with content intended to make you laugh and quite possibly want to read my blog every day. Because you think it is funny.
Like when I make cookies.
I have a confession. Project Me, endeavor dos, is not off to a good start.
Changing life habits is a lot harder than I thought, so this morning I sought the wisdom and advice of the internet. According to the Daily Mind, there are 17 things you can do to wake up feeling fresh in the morning:
The night before:
During the night:
The morning:
I decided that I am going to transform project 365 into something I like to call Project Me. The project allows me to focus my energy on one “me improvement” at a time. I figure that if I don’t work on my improvement, who will? So I present to you project number dos: My morning coffee
You’re probably thinking that I am leaving coffee. Au contraire, monsieur (that will never happen). I plan to do the opposite:
Goal: Wake up in time to leisurely have my morning coffee before I scurry off to work.
Tomorrow could not possibly be a better day to begin because I have to meet the study abroad advisor at South Dakota’s Augustana University coffee shop at 7:45 AM before starting a two-day stretch of classroom and faculty presentations around the state. Tardiness is not an option.
These presentations were sprung on me, so I am not as prepared as I would like to be. I find that in improvisational moments, it’s best to stick with a theme – that way you stay on track. My theme will be movement, and that is how I will convince students to study abroad.
MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.
Life is about movement. Whether it’s getting off of a plane in Bangkok, or outlawing the use of the “snooze” and throwing yourself in the shower. We all must move because with movement, we become who we are.
This year WordPress asked us if there was something specific that we could blog about for a whole year and called it Project 365. I decided that I wanted to start a project about creating good habits and breaking bad ones. I have thought about it some more and have come to the conclusion that this isn’t something that I have to do for just one year, but rather, for the rest of my life. So I have decided to call it Project Me, the logic behind that being that we are all a work in progress, so why not make a lifelong project out of it?
The rules: Repeat something 21 times in attempt to make a habit out of it, document all my repetitions, and at the end of those 21 repetitions (within a 30-day period), hope that it has stuck.
** If trying to break a habit, go 21 days without doing it
I am regularly starting new projects, as I mentioned in this post, but never completing them. Project Me will allow me to focus on one thing at a time, and at the end of 21 repetitions decide if it is for me (e.g., running, sewing, knitting, flamenco, French, graphic design, start-up company, photography, etc.). If indeed I love these things, then I am ready to focus more seriously on these areas of interest by taking classes and investing time and money in them.
Project Me to date:
Running: Check out previous entries for more info on this journey, but to sum it all up, I began running after the new year, completed 21 repetitions and have continued to run. I have never liked running and was certain I never would. Last night I ran three miles without stopping. This is something that I have never done before.
Goal: On March 25th I will be running in the Capitol 10k, and my goal is to complete the run in 57 minutes or less.
via statesman.com
Reward: A gym membership. I will reward myself with a membership and one of those pillows below once I prove that I can commit to regular physical activity – This 10k will do just that.
source: alexandra ferguson etsy shop
I invite anyone who wants to work on who they are to join me in this journey. It’s definitely more fun with moral support!
What’s my next Project Me you ask? I’ll tell you very soon!
In case you haven’t been “connected” in the past few days, I will bring you up to speed. Yes, I am referring to reading my blog as being connected. How cheeky of me. Anyhoo, I just spent the past week covering a great portion of the state of California. It started with a pleasure-filled trip to San Francisco last weekend and then turned into a business-filled trip from L.A. to San Diego, and back. I’ll give you a recap tomorrow.
Despite my love for this state, I am, or better yet, I was so ready to head home last night, when Imissedmyflight. Yes, you heard me, I missed my flight. The last flight out I might add. Maybe you don’t know me that well, but I have mastered the art of being fashionably late. I wouldn’t even call myself a professional, more like an expert in this field. My timing is impeccable. I somehow manage to show up everywhere just late enough that I am not too late. Are there other experts out there, or do I take the cake?
The best part is that last night was not necessarily my fault. I left with plenty of time to get there but got trapped for 30 minutes in an accident inflicted traffic jam, got lost trying to return my rental, wasted twenty minutes waiting for Thrifty to find my contract, that they never found and had two slow-moving women mosey onto the shuttle that in the end would deliver me to the doorstep of defeat.
So I did what any exhausted, husband-deprived woman would do, I cried (at least I’d like to think this is a normal reaction). The lady didn’t find this to be amusing, so I cried harder. She told me that I could try and fly standby the next day at noon, but that there wasn’t anything else. Just when I had begun to feel hopeless, the supervisor walked by and in a heroic fashion said, “what seems to be the problem?”
The woman explained that there was nothing until late tomorrow, and he said, “What about O’Hare?”
The woman replied, “Well yes, but it is going to cost her.”
The man replied, “Put her on it.”
Her rebuttal, “But sir.”
And in a cooler than cool way, my hero replied, “Just do it. Now.”
Then he never made eye contact with me again. I don’t even know his name, and it’s tearing me up inside! So I ended up sitting in a bar for four hours, meeting some of the most peculiar and intriguing people I have ever met in my life (All I can say, is don’t paint Gisele’s comment regarding the Patriots’ in a negative light when you are in Los Angeles because you will more than likely be sitting next to her cousin). Then I took the red eye to Chicago, slept in O’Hare for 3 hours under a blanket I borrowed from the plane and caught the 8:00 AM flight home to Austin, with extra leg room all the while. I am currently one hour out and sitting next to a girl with a Louis Vuitton twice my size, wearing far too much perfume. I am still living in the longest Thursday ever, but I couldn’t be happier.
Oh, and here is a really classy article from the Wall Street Journal backing Gisele’s comment. Super cute.
Now, someone tell me an airport story. One you can look back on now and laugh about. Just do it. Now.
Real quick. Mostly photos. I feed off of color, words, people and structures regularly. Don’t we all? This is why it is important for me to live in a city where I am surrounded by constant stimulation. Here are a few things I found in less than an hour walking around LA:
Does it work for you? What gets you going everyday?
I was going back through my blog, and I realized that I skipped over day 19 of my running challenge. I beg your pardon day 19, and to make up for my truancy, I ran my butt off tonight in the hotel gym. I ran 2.7 miles and was shooting for three until I realized that the lady working in the Hilton spa had locked my purse in the women’s locker room and gone home. I had to get the security guard to open the door for me. He apologized for the inconvenience so many times that I wanted to tell him it wasn’t ok. That sounds mean, but his apologies were excessive.
Today wasn’t the first time I had to stop in the midst of a run. Yesterday I was running when two women walking on the trail stopped me to ask for advice on where to go in the city. Being a tourist myself, I was obviously unable to help them, but above all, I was appalled that they would be so selfish to break someone from their rhythm and concentration. You see, once I stop running, it is really difficult for me to get back into it. Does this happen to anyone else?
When I got back to the hotel, I decided that I couldn’t let my California bout end without a dauntless trip to In-N-Out Burger
A cheeseburger with grilled onions, “Animal Style” fries and a big thanks to the folks at In-N-out for not having locations in Texas. Voilà!
You would think they were paying me to market their burgers; this photo looks like it should be on a billboard somewhere reading: “Eat me. I love you.” Did you know that when you order at the drive thru they ask you if you are going to eat it in the car? I was really confused, so after asking her to repeat three times, I just said yes. Then they served it to me like this. Awesome! They even gave me a placemat!
