"49% Less Than Half Ain't Really Much Of Nothing..."

Confession time: I've been half-assing it. Yep. I'm owning it. Let's get all the excuses I've been using out of the way with: "work is crazy," "I'm traveling like mad," "when I'm not traveling I'm catching up on everything else," "the hotel has a crappy gym, I can't stick to my routine anyway," "I didn't sleep well because I was at a hotel so I need the extra sleep this morning instead of working out," "I don't have any fresh food in the house from being gone so much, there's no point in restocking the groceries anyway, I'm about to leave again," "I finally have a night off' I want to celebrate!" - I'm slightly purged, but there's probably forty-five more cop outs that could be added to this list.

That said, I put my best foot forward today. And for that I'm giving myself a pat on the back. I packed my latest installment of Oxygen magazine - I did it half-heartedly. As I sat on yet another airplane, I cracked the spine and felt annoyed by all the "you can do it" messages and hard bodies. I was just deflated. I kept reading and there was an article from a fitness idol of mine (in her mid-thirties) talking about how hard it was for her to learn the art of self-control and the true meaning of commitment - in her case she was applying this to health and wellness and relationships. This I can relate to.

"I Could Be So Much More Than This..."

The past couple of days have been the "fall to pieces kind." I hope you don't know these, but I'm pretty sure all of us do. The kind of days where someone looks at you funny when you pass them in an intersection and you feel like breaking down. Or you find yourself staring out a plane window wondering why there isn't more joy in the world - or your world in particular.

When I went to hit the treadmill today I dug in to the archives for some Jimmy Eat World. I don't have a whole lot of  "aggressive music" and I wouldn't say Jimmy Eat World is aggressive, however they do have some hard charging, sing-along, haul ass tunes that get me moving. Then "My Sundown" came on and I almost started crying on the treadmill when I was reminded how much I love this song and how much it resonates. 

Give it a whirl. The lyrics literally make my heart split open in the best most truthful "look in the mirror" of ways. Enjoy. 

Pork and Peanut Stir Fry Shelley-style

I don't particularly mind eating the same thing day in and day out for breakfast, or even lunch. But dinner, that's a whole other story. Maybe it's because it's the time of day I enjoy eating most, maybe it's because I consider it the food grand finale of the day, I don't know. Fact is, I am always trying to find something tasty and creative and I admit, it is often challenging.

Adding to this challenge is having a "picky eater" as your most frequent dining partner. That my friends is the situation I find myself in. Now, me... I'm what you would call an "adventurous" eater. I've been known to chase mozzarella sticks down Jeff Hill (that's in O.U. for those of you who haven't been there) brush 'em off and devour them in seconds flat and eat a hoagie off a questionable (at best) apartment floor. However, my usual dinner guest is nowhere near this comfortable with food. He's frightened of chicken, consistently questions the number of times I've washed my hands while prepping dinner, and won't touch anything that isn't cooked to a crisp. This makes my cooking life all the more challenging.