Motivation= Lacking

Help me. Someone, please help me.

I'm trying to get back on the work-out wagon, and ain't. nothin'. workin'.

A few weeks back, I was able to wake up few times a week at 6:30/45 and run for a half hour/45 mins around my bit of the city. Then the next week came, and I did yoga and Pilates a few days after work at my gym. "Great! I'm on a roll!" I thought. "Two WHOLE weeks!"

Then came this past weekend. Birthday weekend= Birthday drinks. Birthday food. Parents paying for a big dinner. Friday and Monday off... now it's nearly Thursday and I just came back from the gym and barely broke a sweat for my 30 mins of cardio.

I have no motivation!

You'd think as a single girl living in NYC, just hitting 25, I'd WANT to look like my sveltest self. Unfortunately, I don't feel like it matters what I look like.

I don't mean that in a "I should love myself no matter what I look like" way. I mean it in a "I feel and look like shitake, but for some reason, I don't care" way.

It isn't a "rut," because I'm pretty happy lately. It's just that I'd rather sit on the couch after an 11-12 hour work day, or sleep in that extra half hour than MOVE my body.

WHAT can I do to stop this from happening to me? Anyone? Please?

xoxo

Birthday HAIR

For those who didn't see me on my birthday or aren't my friend on Facebook to see the pics, here is what the "Heidi Hair" wound up looking like...

I had gone to the beach earlier on Saturday but put curlers in my hair before I went out at night. The curls weren't as pretty or as shiny as Heidi's, but I'm going to just admit it: I have curly/wavy hair. I can't pretend that I have straight, Barbie hair. It won't ever be shiny, frizz-free, gorgeous movie-star waves. Just as we hardly ever see Taylor Swift or Shakira with gorgeously shiny locks, I have to admit to myself that I will never see myself that way!

Not bad though... look at the cut now with natural curls... Mom thinks I should go shorter in the front... what do you think?
* p.s. this will be the last "hair" specific post. I know you don't just want to read about that. SO, what else do you want to read about? New York life? Advertising life? Dating (or lack thereof!) life? Subway stories?*

Curly Girl vs. Straight Chick

So, I have a big celebration coming up. Well, it's not that big... but it's still a celebration, so planning is involved. One of those planning aspects is...hair!

I'm getting it cut and colored (still blonde, duh) on Friday. The celebration is on Saturday. I have the option of keeping it straight for the party on Saturday, or I can make it curly again... but I really don't want to. After spending (and my other curly girls can attest to this) a lot of money on getting it professionally blown out (not Keratin/Japanese straightened,) in NYC, the last thing I want to do is wash it the next day. Plus, it's SO soft and fun to have your hair a different way! If I could/had patience, I'd straighten it every day.

So, I will leave it up to you (not the final decision) to give me your opinion on what you think I should do. Again, this is a special day, and I'm so used to my curls that I'm bored with them. Turning 25 doesn't happen more than once! A special look is necessary.

Below, take a look at me with curls, me with straight hair, and what I want my hair to look like on Saturday (a bit of a mix...and not that blonde!) What do you think?

* Note, this is not a promotion for Heidi Montag. I think she's absolutely nuts, but am glad she is separated from her crystal-baring, nude-colored-beareded husband. I just like her hair in this picture. :)

Top 12 Bucket List

Ever realize you need something to live for? That's kinda where I'm at right now. I'm just living my life, day by day, with no real goals and dreams in mind. Every goal I've ever had, I've already met.
1. Get a great job after college
2. Move to New York
3. Live on my own
4. Be 100% independent (and aside from my cell phone plan, I am)
...And I'm not even 25. That's awesomely amazing, but I forgot to add more goals and dreams once I crossed off 1-4.

To combat this, I've developed the following idea:

Top 12 Things to Do Before I'm 30

Now, before I get into the details of the 12 things, this is how I'm narrowing them down...

It's about me. At nearly 25 (my birthday is on Saturday,) I'm realizing that I can't depend on anyone else for my own happiness. Happiness and fulfillment are created within our own selves. I know, it seems like it's obvious. But, KNOWING it and REALIZING it are 2 very different things.

For all of my adult life, 10 years, I'd say- I've had boyfriends, who were also my best friends. Now that I'm going into my 6th month without any prospects in the immediate, or general, future, I'm re-thinking things. I won't call it "finding myself," because I'm not lost. But, I am growing up. And in this process, I've decided that I need some goals to hit. They'll keep me on my toes, in a good way, as well as keep my life exciting and help me mature in a direction that I'd look back at my mid-20s life and say "wow, I had a pretty amazing time."

In the next 5 years, I will...

12. Travel more than 700 miles (within one trip) alone
11. Visit Ellis Island to look into my family's histories
10. Go on trips with my best friend and sister
9. Increase my net worth by 925%
8. Get promoted/become account supervisor by mid-2011
7. Visit my family at least once a month
6. Be 10 lbs lighter, consistently for more than 1 year
5. Dedicate more of my personal time to helping others (St. Judes, or raising money for cancer cures)
4. KNOW what I'm allergic to, finally!
3. Finish Atlas Shrugged and move onto The Fountainhead
2. Treat my family to an expensive dinner, even paying for the wine- not on credit
1. Buy myself a Louis Vuitton or pair of Christian Louboutins

These aren't in any particular order, and I'm certain that I will add/delete to this list between now and when I'm 30... but for right now, this seems like a list of to-do's that I can actually attain. Some of them should lead into a new list that I'd make when I'm 30 for what I want to do before I'm 35 or 40. Such as: Increasing my net worth should lead into a condo purchase. I know that probably won't be something that I can manage on my own in the next 5 years, however, I'd love to be in a place to add that as lucky number 13.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? :)

xoxo

Great New Music Site

Happy Tuesday!

So, I noticed that my favorite band (Led Zeppelin) was a Trending Topic on Twitter. I didn't know why, so I clicked in to see what was up. I didn't get an answer, but I did find someone who linked to a music website that is going to change my daily listening-to-music-at-work routine.

The site is this: Stereo Mood

What it does is make music playlists based off a mood that you select on the site's home page. If you're feeling: "happy," "sad," "lost in thoughts," "let's party," "road trip," or even "it's raining," you have a multitude of songs to listen to at your disposal.

You can create your own profile, and add songs to your own playlists, and you can even upload your MP3s to the website (as it seems pretty "new" and "indie" and may not have all your favorite artists.)

I highly recommend it if you're getting sick of your iTunes and Pandora's mysterious "what's the next song going to be" program.

xoxo

Guy Smell= Heaven

Those Old Spice ads kill me. Years ago, while working on one brand who was a competitor of Old Spice, I was trained to not like the ads and ignore them, yet figure out and understand how they got to the essence of guys so perfectly.

NOW that I'm not on that brand anymore, I can yell from the rooftops how awesome the spots are.

Case in point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7e_igiPIUI&feature=player_embedded

The great part about these ads is that they do exactly what everyone's taught in marketing 101: market to women if you're trying to sell a man's product. Women do the household shopping for commodities. And... these Old Spice ads are aimed towards these exact women.

The man on a horse (or in this ad, in a boat) is simply reminding women that they probably want their men to smell like men... rather than women. DUH!

I'm sure I can speak for many girls out there when I say: how a guy smells instantly makes or breaks what could or would never happen.

So, all you men out there (specifically, the single ones in NYC,) take note from this guy in the boat. Your chick (or potential, if, again, you're single) will so much more appreciate you if you smell like a man, rather than rose-petal, lavender mint.

xoxo

Things are starting to go awry!

Just a slight follow up from the blog of a few days ago...

Things were going well in those few areas of my life I was referring to... and then my mouth begins to just flap on and on and on and the fantastic facets of my life begin to swirl away into the hot, New York air.

I'll keep you up to date... but, again, if you have any ideas and tactics to keep a girl's head on straight... Send them ovah my way.

Cell in the City

So, my dearest chicadees... I follow Mid Town Girl on Twitter and often read her blog at MidTownGirl. For my Boston loves, don't fret- this application relates to you as well :)

One of her newest posts is very perfect for those of us in the dating, taxi-hailing, and "I have too many key cards for multiple pharmacies and gyms" game. Phone applications that aren't just time-sucks, but HELP a lady's life out in many ways.

Although I don't have the Droid, I'm thinking about making the switch, come October...(when my pink Black Berry will meet it's demise and Verizon allows me to change phones for little or no dollars.) And knowing that these applications exist for the Droid makes me very excited to get it!

Also, check her out and follow her on Twitter. She's super cute and smart, and knows her way around dating and dating clothing styles... and what girl can't appreciate that knowledge?

xoxo

Without getting into too much detail...

You know when you feel that something is going so right that you're afraid it's going to suddenly come to a screeching halt and all will go awry?

I'm feeling that way about some things right now. Nothing I'll go into detail about on a blog (I am, semi-unfortunately, not anonymous) but there are some things in a couple aspects of my life that seem like they're picking up steam and moving in a good direction.

My question is this, without knowing the full background stories: how do I keep up this momentum? Prayer is helping a little bit, but what can I do on my own?

On a separate note, I won an award!!

Bree over at Simply.Girly. gave me the "You're Going Places, Baby" award! Thanks so much, Bree! Her blog is super cute, go check it out!

The rules of this award are this: Describe where I think I will be in 10 years and pass the fun along to 10 other bloggers...

In 10 years...

I will be nearly 35 and hopefully excited to turn the big 4-0. (Background: I've always thought my 40s will be my "golden years" as in, I'll be hot.) I will have finally visited Nice again, seen more of Italy, and traveled to Greece and California for the first times. I will be married with 2-4 children. My career will be flexible enough so that I can raise my 2-4 children while working at home. I will also own a Louis Vuitton and maybe a couple pairs of Louboutins. :)

There you have it! My life (seems simple looking at it from the "future" perspective!) in 10 years. I'm now passing this award onto the following 5 people (10 is just too much!):

C. Marie at Klazane

Russ at Russ Thoughts

David at I've Never Been Good With Titles

Brooke at Brooke Allison Photography

Allie at Stella Booms

Enjoy the awards kids! You're GOING PLACES!

xoxo