lost another friend this week

You may or may not have heard that Bea Arthur, best known as Dorothy of the Golden Girls has passed away after a fight against cancer. This comes in the same year that Estelle Getty also left us. I was going to write again about my feelings on the Golden Girls, as I did when Estelle Getty died, but I think you may have guessed that the sense of loss I feel for Bea Arthur strikes a similar chord. Even though I know that it was just a television show, I hope that Bea and Estelle are sharing a cheesecake up in heaven and that we can keep Rue and Betty here with us for a while longer.

I leave you with this little token of remembrance from two of the girls.

say hello to my little friend

This 24-oz. bottle is BPA-free stainless steel. And it is orange. And it is going to remind me to drink more water and less toxins. Toxins that spill into the water via their plastic containers. And, I'm going to be able to stop using and reusing so many plastic bottles.

Want more? It also has an inspirational reminder to be optimistic. You can't really see it in the photo, but it reads "OPTIMISTIC My glass is always half full." Those of you who know me might see the humor in this, as I'm not going to be able to add eternal optimist to my resume any time soon.

Negativity has been pervasive in my work environment lately, and this little bottle is serving as a reminder for me to lighten the fuck up, take a step back, and realize that things can't really be as bad as they seem. If things really are as bad as they seem, then there must be a silver lining, even if that silver lining is buried under a pile of shit.

In other news, I'm reading a very interesting book: Green, Greener, Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-Smart Choices a Part of Your Life by Lori Bongiorno. I found it while browsing the local library and it is exactly what I've been looking for, the perfect complement to springtime, and my hope is that it will help me to become even more environmentally conscious (something that is in my goals list for 2009).

This book offers three levels of "greening" up your life. If you want to put in minimal effort and expense, go with the green option. If you have time to step it up a bit and throw more time and money in, go with the greener option, and so on and so forth. It's worth a glance if you are wanting a quick read that can help save some green (in terms of money and the environment).

losing inches

Hello again. I'm back from vacation in Chicago with my family (pictures have yet to be uploaded, but they are coming). My nephews are wonderful, but not enough to make me want to spew a kid out of my nethers anytime in the future. Anyway, back to the point, the vacation was fabulous and I have a bit of a crush on Chicago. I must admit that the vacation reinvigorated me to step up my workouts even more. It may have been the 19th floor fitness room at the hotel with the awesome city views.

So, despite all the e-mails I receive daily about wanting to add inches to a member, beast, or otherwise named male extension, I've been losing inches. I've cut two inches off my waist since I started this whole thing and an inch from thighs. Apparently my ass hasn't gotten the memo yet because there hasn't been any visible progress there, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually. I am happy because I'm operating under the assumption that the decrease in inches means that I'm firming and toning, making the stuff that was already there tighter and now more streamlined. Either that or my tape measure reading skills are lacking. My physical therapist is happy with my progress, but is also trying to pull on the reigns to keep me from going overboard. My core strength is improving, but my wonky pelvis is still unstable. At least it isn't my mental state.

I'll keep you posted and will throw some pictures from the trip up here this weekend.