What is Success?

I’ve been philosophizing a lot lately. One thing I realized is that I more easily define myself by the kind of life I don’t want then by the kind of life I do. If I am rejecting society/America/the government’s definition of success, then I need a new one. One that is wholly mine. The simplest way I can define success is happiness. But what are the factors that will lead me to a happy life? Here’s what I came up with (in no particular order):

1. To Be Continuously Learning: I want to see the whole world. I want to always be reading a good book. I want to learn new skills and languages and facts all the time.

2. To Give of Myself: I want to be the best partner, daughter, sister, and friend that I can be. I want to be selfless. I want to give of my time, energy, and skills to others.

3. To Live Healthily and Sustainably: I want to eat well and exercise a lot, while still enjoying the things I love in moderation. I want to eat meatless, organic, local, and sustainable whenever possible. I want to buy less stuff and when I do buy things I also want them to be organic, local, and sustainable products.

4. To Be Spiritually Full: I want to grow closer to God and not afraid of death.

5. To Be Constantly Creative: I want to use my brain and my hands to reduce my consumerism and to make artwork, food, and clothes. I want to film, photograph, write, edit, cook, bake, sew, etc. as much as possible, in order to fulfill my creative spirit.

I think these five tenets are a good starting point for creating my own definition of success.  How do you define success?

One of the ONLY things in life that tempts me to stay put in America…

Photo Favorite: Tattoo Idea

I took this picture in Maasai Mara National Park, Kenya, in 2007.  The camera was a crappy point and shoot but I think to this day it’s one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken, compositionally.  This Acacia was the only tree in the middle of the enormous plain.  In my time in Africa I’ve seen plenty of Acacias (I had one right behind my house in Tanzania and have some cool pictures of it too) but I still think they’re the coolest trees in the world.

So, getting a tattoo is on my Thirty by 30 list.  I’ve been set on the location (shoulder-blade) and the words in my envisioned tattoo for a long time, but I keep waffling on the picture.  Lately I’ve been thinking that an Acacia tree would be perfect!  It could have color, meaning, and even be based on this picture that I took!  Including the road would be awesome and meaningful too.  Plus, it’s African-themed without being obvious (my first idea was an outline of the continent of Africa) and fits perfectly with the words I want:  “Tupo pamoja” meaning “We are together” in Swahili.

What do you think?????

Operation Bikini: Update 3

Remember I said I’d write again after I weighed myself today?  Well, I’m doing it!  Accountability, eh?

I feel great today because not only did I do a great job eating right and exercising through the weekend, but I weighed myself today for the first time in months and it was not as high a number as I expected!  I don’t want to write out the official digits on the Internet, but suffice it to say, I actually lost 4 pounds since the last time I weighed myself despite my sporadic eating ways!

So, instead of the 20-24 pounds I thought I had to lose, I really only have 18!  So this whole shebang could be accomplished in only 9 weeks!!!  9 weeks ain’t so bad!!  Woohoo!!!

I’m feeling happy and in control today!  September 12 is the official goal date.  (A little past bikini season in the US, but not in Colombia!)  I know I can stick to this and get the “freshman 15” off for good!!!

Best Birthday Present Ever!

Hellooooo there!  I have been SO out of the loop on posting and email and everything due to our Internet modem totally pooping out.  It’s still not fixed but it better be soon because I just feel so behind on life!  That’s what happens when so much of your day-to-day routine is based on being plugged in.  Weird!

Well, I’m going to get back into blogging with just a quickie for today.

Introducing, THE NEW LOVE OF MY LIFE:  my Nikon D3100!!!!!!

I have the best boyfriend in the world!!!!!  He got me this lovely and amazing dSLR for my 24th birthday (which was May 18th).  One of the things that we love about each other is the fact that neither of us is into stuff…we try to keep our lives simple and not accumulate tons of crap.  So in getting each other birthday and Christmas presents we try to emphasize practicality.

Why is a fancy schmancy dSLR practical?  Well, because I really do enjoy photography, I want to get better at it, and we can use this camera to take awesome pictures in our travels!!!   These will make my blog and the La Aventura Project website better.  And Zach made sure to get a camera that was amazing at shooting HD video also so that we can use it as a second video camera for the La Aventura Project documentary!

I’ve never had a Nikon (usually go with Canon) but Zach said that all factors considered he felt this one was better than the Canon he was comparing it to.  Anyone out there have this camera and wanna give me some tips?  I’m also looking for a good guidebook to learn more about it.  The included manual never has enough…

So here I am, one year older, and one step closer to a couple more of my Thirty by 30 goals (#20 “Learn to use a dSLR.” and I’m hoping this will prompt me to buckle down and learn photoshop soon too, which is goal #15)!

Operation Bikini: Update 1

For the purposes of my weight-loss plan, I decided that the week starts on Monday.  As I wrote, on Monday I went on an 11-mile hike, so that was my first “flex day” for the week, meaning I didn’t count calories.  I enjoyed some pizza and a margarita but didn’t go overboard.  Tuesday I did a great job eating (under 1000 calories), and went mountain biking with Zach.  Unfortunately I tripped on the rutted road and fell off, with the bike pedal hitting me right in the upper arch bone of my foot.  Ouch!  That was swollen and kinda sore until mid-afternoon today.  It kinda led me down a bad road, since instead of going for another bike ride I decided to make Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Filling and Chocolate Ganache (recipe: Ming Makes Cupcakes) for Zach!  I didn’t actually eat a cupcake, but of course I consumed a good amount of the batter, filling, and ganache.  (Baker’s privileges, you know.)  So today became my second “flex day” already.  I did kick myself in the butt and got outside for a 30 minute walk, plus did 50 pushups and 150 crunches for at least a little exercise.    I definitely indulged a little too much today and need to work more on the moderation thing for my flex days next week.  So now I am facing a stretch of at least 4 days eating strictly (1000 calories or less).  It’ll be hard but I can do it!  Writing these posts will definitely help me stay accountable.

The dreaded diet post

Guys, I hate writing this.  But I feel I must.  Things have come to the point where unless I start making some changes and exercising some accountability I am never going to be happy with my body.  My bad habits and severe lack of self-control have been WINNING (Charlie Sheen, anyone?).  I really really want to turn things around and drop 20 pounds so I can cross #17 (Wear a bikini and look hot) off my Thirty by 30 list.  The thing is, I just SUCK so much at losing weight.  I try really hard for a few weeks, then have one bad day, feel bummed, and continue the badness for a whole week.  Hence the horribly unoriginal and boring blog post about “my new diet plan!”  Honestly though, I’m writing this for the accountability.  I just want to put my goal out there on the internet for all to see AND make myself post updates as my goals are accomplished.  And they will be!!!!!!!  (Woo, positive thinking.)

So here’s the deal.  After my junior year of college I did lose my freshman 15 (I’ve since gained it all back and more) and what worked for me then was calorie counting.  Ugh, I know.  But it’s the simplest and most logical method to me with the least restrictions on WHAT I can actually eat.  So that’s what I’m gonna do.

THE PLAN

1. Count calories and eat 1000 calories or less at least 5 days per week.

2. Exercise every day. (gym, hiking, biking, yoga, something!!!!)

3. 2 days a week can be a little bit more flexible.  If I want to have a treat, some drinks, or go out to eat I can.  This will help me stay sane and have things to look forward to.  BUT these days are also a tool to help myself learn moderation.  Just  because I’m not counting does not mean I can fully unleash the munchie monster.  If I stuff myself silly 2 days a week it will totally undo the benefits of the other 5 low-cal days, so I am going to really concentrate on being REASONABLE!

4. I’m not going to weigh myself obsessively.  I’m going to wait to weigh myself until I notice some changes.  I think this will help me focus on sticking with the plan just to be healthy, not to achieve specific numbers.  (Although theoretically if I do this right those numbers will come!)

5. All bets are off for my birthday week.  My best friend and her hubby will be visiting and there will probably be lots of treats.  But it’s my birthday and I will not care!!!!  But that is the ONLY week I am allowed to go off-plan until I meet my goal.

6. If I get to where I want to be before we move away from Flagstaff, I’m rewarding myself with a brand new outfit from this AWESOME but slightly expensive store in town, The Rainbow’s End.  (I haven’t bought any clothes not from Kohls or the thrift store in years.)

That’s it.  Seriously, I KNOW I can do this because I’ve done it before.  If I can just make myself buckle down it should only take around 3 months to get back to where I want to be.  That means I could get my bikini out by the end of this summer!  I would LOVE that!  I just really need encouragement.  So please, if you read this, send me some happy thoughts AND make sure to ask me how things are going once in awhile.  Hopefully I’ll have some positive changes to report soon!!!  Thanks for bearing with such a superficial post!

And Carrie squealed and did a happy dance at work!!

In case you can’t tell from this crappy iPhone picture, I’ll just go ahead and tell you why I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

I BOOKED OUR FLIGHT TO COLOMBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who haven’t heard about La Aventura Project, click the link over in the sidebar to the right to learn about why me, my boyfriend, and my friend Mel are taking off on a one-year backpacking adventure through all of South America. 

Those of you following the project know we’ve been planning this forever but weren’t planning to buy our flight tickets  until May or June.  Well, today I got to work (where I get paid to surf the internet) and found a deal that seemed too good to be true (*knockonwood*)!  After some frantic texting between myself and Melissa I just threw caution to the wind and booked it.

We have our flight, y’all!!!!!!!  (I’m not really southern, but that’s meant to be heard in a Waiting for Guffman accent.) 

I’m going to surprise Zach with the printed-out confirmation tonight.  He knows nothing of this.  So shh…don’t tell him before I do!

Thirty by 30 Brain-freeze

For the past week I’ve been working on a list of 30 goals to accomplish before I turn 30.  I’m going to make another tab at the top of this page and post it there.  The list includes things to learn, places to go, milestones to experience, etc.  I’ve got 29 really solid ideas on the list but I CANNOT think of a #30!  This is weird because usually my brain flutters all over the place wanting to do too many things.  I just want this list to be composed of really awesome and well thought-out things that I can reasonably do.  I know there has to be one more awesome thing I really must accomplish in the next six years.  Any ideas for me?