Read Forever

It's no secret that I love literature.  I adore books.  I love reading.  I am content with a quiet day and a good novel. My earliest memory is reading with my mom and sneaking books into bed, trying to read them with my night light.  I came across this poem last year and meant to post something about it, but forgot...oops!


Anywho...here you go!  I love the poem and have included the commercial.


READ FOREVER

Till all the books are read

And all the pens are put down

And everything there is to learn is learnt

Till tears are no longer shed

And the zingers have all zinged

And the irony is all ironed out

Till the heroes retire

and the monsters return to their dens

And all the plots are wrapped up

Till there are no more twists or turns

No more guns in drawers

No more shaggy dogs

Till rhymes stop rhyming

And pots stop boiling

And everyone is happy

And there’s nothing more to say

Till that day

By hook or by crook

By book or by nook

…..I will read.

(NOOK Color, Barnes and Noble Read Forever Commercial)

One week down...looking back!

In one of my goals, I said that I wanted to blog more.  Well…once a week?  That’s where I am right now.  Making my big goals and breaking them into little ones.  It’s not been easy.  I’ve been quite frustrated with myself.  I decided to list the things I’ve struggled with.

1. I LOVE food.  I’m just going to throw it out there.  Actually, I freakin’ love food.  I mean, come on, who doesn’t?  I’m super jealous of those people who LOVE healthy food.  I do not.  I never have.  Unless I get magically rich and can hire a personal check to cook for me (small, healthy, proportionate meals), I doubt I ever will.  Here’s the thing, I know that people say, but ohhh Coley, it can be easy!  Yes, probably, but I don’t like to take the time to think constantly about what I am eating.  To overcome this I’ve realized that the Special K diet helps me.  You don’t have to think so much about doing it.  I (for the most part…) did okay with it last week.  I want to try it again this week and then maybe the next week do more of a calorie count. 

I’m not going to lie though; it saddens me to not be able to eat the food I’m used to.  I love eating good food, not that healthy food can’t be good, but I like not thinking about the amount of calories that are about to enter my mouth.  Learning not to eat everything in sight is a challenge I’m learning to overcome.  So, smaller goal…smaller meals and not eating everything in sight J 

2. Weekends are hard…I love to travel and visit on the weekends with my friends.  I love going home and seeing my family.  All of this usually means at some point, I will be eating and not on a strict schedule.  Now, I will say, I was super proud of myself this past Saturday.  I packed my Special K and snacks and did pretty well.  However, night time fell and PF Changs came…and oh my.  Look back up to #1…what do I love?  FOOD.  It’s hard.  I hate thinking about ‘healthy options’, blah blah.  No fun!  So…smaller goal?  Less travel (for now) and when I do, making a conscience effort to pack healthy snacks and when we do go out, eat a healthy option. 

3. Work gets in the way of working out!  So does weather, errands, and the other daily things that goes on in life.  I had amazing intentions of working out every day last week!  It happened…once L  Sad, I know.  It rained a couple days; I had some meetings after school…so on and son forth.  I know that I could’ve worked out inside, but boo!  That is no fun!!  My friend, Case, has been good about that.  Inside workouts.  Smaller goal: Try to at least do 20 minutes of something active everyday this week!  Whether walking, jumping jacks, dancing around the house (check!!), or anything that is more active.

4. STUPID SCALES!  I had the brilliant idea of getting a scale…AKA…the machine that should be thrown out!  I hate scales, but I felt like I needed something to be able to go by and chart myself.  I weighed myself at 6:00 and weighed one weight.  I weighed the next morning and had gained 5 pounds…you know, that sleep weight…what the crap?!  Then, I weighed myself 24 hours later and had gained another 3 lbs. So 8 lbs in 24 hours.  Wow.  I decided against throwing it out.  But, ohhh, I really wanted to!  Smaller goal: I am only going to weigh myself ONCE a week.  I don’t know if it’ll help, but at least I won’t be constantly discouraged!!

5. I am a PERFECTIONIST!  I hate not doing well at things.  I do not diet or exercise well.  It’s so frustrating!!  I want to see results immediately and unfortunately, with dieting that doesn’t always happen.  Smaller goal: Stick it out!  One week at a time!  Remind myself that this will take time, but it will be worth it!

That was a lot.  I guess I made up for not blogging every day!!  Even though I’m sure there are only about 3 people that read this, I want to remind myself of my struggles and prove to myself that I can do this!  You know the saying…what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger!  

Resolutions and other Clichés

Resolutions.  How many of these have I made over the years?  If we counted all the ones that everyone made on January 1^st, I’m sure we’d have enough to cover every topic humanly possible!  I’m no exception.  I’ve made countless resolutions that usually end up broken by…oh…January 2^nd.  Maybe next week…maybe the next…let’s just start at Spring…well, Summer?  Oh well, it’s close to the end of the year…maybe next new years?  This is literally the conversation I have with myself every. single. year.  So I’m going to throw out my resolutions with hope…and I can only pray that maybe this will be the year they stick.

I’m already (in typical Coley style) a week late, but starting tomorrow, I’m hoping to begin 2 of my goals (though I have several more).  Let us begin:

1. COUCH TO 5K – This has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.  One of my former students told me about this a couple years ago and I attempted it once, but didn’t stick with it (shocking, I know).  It’s a great program because it eases you into running.  There’s a beautiful trail right by my school and I am going to start tomorrow!  The program lasts for several weeks, but the ultimate goal is a 5k.  There is one in Greenville, SC in March that I’m contemplating, but I’m going to see how this week goes!  I’ll keep you posted… J

2. Special K Diet – I’ve have tried this several times, always with good results.  However, after I lose a few pounds I tend do go back to the om nom nom stage and eat back the pounds.  I do love this diet though because of a few reasons.  1) It’s pretty easy.  It makes sense.  I need simple!  2 meals of cereal, 2 snacks in between, and then one ‘normal’ (understanding it’s a healthy normal) meal.  2) The choices are yummy!  I love the cereal and the snacks.  Most of the cereals (my fave is chocolate delight and the strawberry) are delish!  The snacks are good too.  3) It only lasts 2 weeks.  At that point you can re-evaluate and see where you want to go from there. 

3. Devotional – I want to take 5-10 minutes at the beginning of my day to devote to my relationship with God.  My mom gave me a great book that just takes a couple minutes to read over and then I also get a wonderful e-mail devotional that is awesome.  If you’re ever looking for an online e-mail devotional, I highly recommend Stillspeaking Devotionals.  They’re great.  My friend, Caroline, introduced them to me a little over a year ago and I’ve really enjoyed reading them.

4. BLOG MORE – Ah, the same one!  I swear, I have the best intentions with this blog, but get…blogged down…haha, see what I did there?  Anywho, I’d like to write more.  Not only on this blog, but the other blog I share with my dear friend Courtney.  I have a lot to write about now, and hopefully this will keep me accountable.

That’s all for now.  I have a couple more goals that are a little bit crazier and personal.  I’ll save those for later.  We’ll see how these go and then I might share!  Wish me luck!  One of my best friends, Casey, is also doing the Special K Diet and Couch to 5K too, so you should check out her presh blog.   I’ll keep the 4 of you that read this posted J