Celebrate 11-11-11!

If you know me in real life, you know that I love numbers and nerdy things. That is precisely why today, 11-11-11 is the coolest day of the year or maybe my life! And it's on a Friday! I seriously need to have a party and I'm a little bit sad I already have plans. But the plans are to meet a friend I studied abroad in HK with who moved from Michigan to Minnesota a while ago, whom I have not seen since 2008. (You all know how I love reconnecting, right?) So this is exciting! 

And so is 11-11-11, especially the two times of day when it's 11:11. I think I'll switch my phone from military time, just so I can experience 11:11 two times rather than one. (Why is it on military time? To keep my brain sharp!)

Maybe I have a cake for my work frans that says "11-11-11!" Maybe.

That is all. I hope you'll still be my friend.

Also, thank you to all the veterans who have given so much. You're pretty cool in my book.

Slothopatomus

My name is Jennifer, and I have been a slothopotamus. Seriously, if a sloth and a hippo had a child, that would be me. It's sort of mean, but I need a little bit of encouragement to get myself the H to the gym.

So, in an effort to get off the couch (actually, the computer chair), I am going to do something new with my work out plan by scheduling classes and gym times and runs on my calendar, as if they were dinner dates with friends or appointments I couldn't miss. Last week I looked up yoga classes ahead of time (at all the places I have vouchers/groupons/existing memberships), found times that worked, and "penciled" them in. 

It at least worked for last Sunday; I had scheduled a yoga class at Core Power and by golly, I went! (For the first time in three months...) But even on Tuesday, I am still le sore. Last night I had thirty-thousand-four-hundred-and-nine cavities filled, so to make the numbness wear off faster, I walked on the treadmill for over an hour. It helps when Modern Family is in front of me too.

Today I'm heading back to the gym. I need to tell you guys so I can feel at least a little bit accountable to keep going. No more slothopotamus! I have found a hefty (haha) correlation between weight gain and unhappiness. (And yes, in this case, it's correlation AND causation). I refuse to gain weight during the holiday season.  Who is with me? 

Merry Monday

Hey youuu guyyyyyys. That time of week has come once again, dreaded Monday. This monday is UBER exciting because I have an appointment, have to renew my library card to get my book club's book, then...drumroll, please...not one, not-a two, but three cavity fillings! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! 

But the weekend was great and relaxing and there's another one coming up in four days. So there's that.

Things to make me happy:

1. My room is finally clean-ish. It's taken some time and a lot of work, but the end result is a lot less stressful than the beginning one was.

2. Giving. I, along with many of you readers, attended a benefit breakfast on Saturday and donated to a worthy cause. More on this later.

3. Not going out. I didn't really "go out" either Friday or Saturday, and it felt a lot healthier, a lot less tiring, and maybe less fun, but it was good nonetheless.

Does anyone have ideas on how to seize the day? I am seriously struggling this November 7th. 

Whole Living Challenge: Ditch the To Do

This might seem easier than it actually is. I have a habit of stuffing my entire weekend full until it's about to explode. This weekend, however, the boyfran will be hunting from Friday-Sunday and since we see each other most of the weekend, every weekend, my weekend is a little more free this time around. (Can I say "weekend" a little more?) (Weekend, weekend, weekend).

So try this. But also you should maybe hang out with me. Kthxbye.

Are we too connected to be connected?

Well obviously today is special because I like numbers and 11-1-11 is pretty neat. Just wait for ten more days and I might throw a party for the date! (At least in my head I will). 

Anyway, I've been thinking. Is social media bringing us closer together or further apart? Let me explain.

Today I saw that I had some new followers on Instagram. I was instantly excited and thought, now we can share our little moments with each other via photographs. But then I thought, well why not show each other things in person? Why not talk in person? Why not call each other instead of rely on each other's blogs or social media sites to find out what's been happening? 

Well there could be some reasons:

1. It's easier to check for updates on your phone than to schedule a date and block out hours of your night to hang out during the week.

2. With the internet, you can see (at once) what many people are doing rather than one person or a small group of people. 

3. With blogs, you get a larger sense of what is going on at a particular time. When you meet someone in person, you don't talk about all the little things that go through your head when things happen. 

4. You get to see another side of a person that sometimes is difficult to capture in real life.

5. You are essentially still having alone time, while being sort of social.

But then again...

1. We hermit ourselves.

2. Internet can be impersonal and you miss the body language, tone, pitch, everything that physical, real communication gives.

3. You read things so you already know what's going on, so you don't feel as much need to ask.

4. Sometimes people don't sound like themselves in writing and you wonder what the deal is. This is why I particularly enjoy reading  blogs where I can hear the person saying things out loud. (She's pretty good at sound effects).

5. It's a double life. In my case, a triple life. (This one, the other one, the real life). But I try to be genuine in all of them. I keep thinking of merging my blogs so I don't have so many selves, but then I couldn't go deep into thought like I do on this one, and I couldn't focus so much on fashion and music as the other one. So there. I gotta keep 'em separated. 

In any case, I obviously enjoy being online and getting the inside scoop on people I know, and sometimes people I don't. (The people I don't have a lot to offer in terms of style, projects, insight).  Who knew that you didn't need experts to tell you everything, but instead, real people who do things and see things and write about them?

Whatever you do, make sure you step out of the virtual life and into the one you've led up until before you had all of these technologies. And then go sit down at your computer and keep on reading. :)