Reality Check

Hello Blog Followers (the few of you that are out there)

Well, after a really fun weekend in Mobile for Katherine and Joe's big day (a post about that upcoming), I am EXHAUSTED.  It takes so long to recover after a 2/3 day long binder these days.  So sad...  (thanks age 27)

Anyway, the purpose of this post is basically to hold myself accountable.  I was so happy to be part of Katherine and Joe's big day, but I could not have felt worse about my physical appearance.  I felt like a stuffed sausage and looked like I was 9 months pregnant in my bridesmaid dress (sorry KZ).


That being said, it's time for me to have a true conversation with myself about my current size (enormous) and how quickly it took for me to go from somewhat cute (last summer) to now (pregnant lady size without impending child on the way).  For those who think I might be exaggerating, photos below as proof.

June 2011

September 2012

Needless to say, I've gained 30+ pounds.

So, today begins day 1 of many to get back to June 2011 or smaller.  I am going to get a trainer in the next few weeks, stop eating crap, stop drinking as much, especially during the week and just generally live a healthier life, so a) I can feel better mentally b) Look better physically and c) Hopefully attract a man down the road.

So, I'm posting this I can keep myself accountable.  I'm starting Jillian Michael's 30 day shred DVD tonight and plan on walking.

I swear my next post will be funny and not about being fat or fat people, etc.  Just very much on the brain at the moment.

Until next time.

Cheers!

Christine

Plus Size...My Ass

Ok, in my efforts to avoid doing work today, I have been reading a variety of websites, including people.com.  Now, most of the time I look at the photos of the day, reading the occasional story that interests me and move on.  People.com doesn't really make an impact past the few seconds I spend on the sigh.

Well today people, it made more than a brief impact.  They have a story about a "plus size" model on the their website.  Now, I put plus size in quotes for you because there is no way on this planet that the model they are referring to is plus size.  I can speak from personal experience as one who goes between a 12 (at my skinniest and god willing will return to that at some point in the near future) and a 16/18 (hello current size, woof..).

Anyway, below is the picture of the "plus size" model.

From People.com

I would give my left arm or another body part to have this girl's body.  I think it is ridiculous that she is used for plus size modeling.  I'm no an advocate of being overweight (my god, I am one of the harshest critiques of myself at my current weight), but this is just inaccurate advertising.  Plus size people would like to see clothes on a plus size person to see if it would actually look good on them, not a girl who can and I'm sure has zero problem walking into almost any store in America to find regular clothes that are "modeled" by people who haven't eaten in weeks and workout at the gym an absurd amount of time.  And yes, I am jealous of model bodies (most people are), but I also have a full time job, no current gym membership and LOTS of insecurities about working out, so I struggle to loose weight, like most women in America (although, I must say, 95% of my friends seems to have no weight problem at all in my eyes, but they would disagree).  

All of this to say, this girl being used for "plus size" modeling is part of the reason the 95% of my friends who don't have a weight problem have issues about their bodies to begin with because this girl who is a size 10 is used for, I'll just say it, fat people advertising.  I have issues with my body because I am overweight, and I fully admit that.  I just wish people who didn't have a weight problem could appreciate the bodies they do have and not bitch and whine so much about being "fat" and needing to "loose weight".  

Charleston - Bachelorette Style!

Hello blog readers.  I know I said I would get better about posting on a more regular basis.  Turns out, I was kidding myself.  My problem stems from the fact that I like to have posts with pictures, and I take pictures with my real camera, which then means I have to download them on to my ancient laptop, etc, etc.  Hence, the blogging isn't happening as often as I would like.  Luckily for this post, my bff SB is OBSESSED with taking pictures, and she was on my latest adventure to Charleston this past weekend for our good friend (that we've known since we were 5) KZ's bachelorette party.

The weekend started off with a VERY EARLY 6 am flight out of Nola, that I almost missed because I stupidly misjudged the amount of people that would be in the Nola airport at 5 am on a Friday morning.  Oh well, I made it, but then I had to sprint through the Atlanta airport to make my connection because, after all that worrying I would miss my flight in Nola, the flight left Nola late.  The passengers, airport employees and some passengers on this flight out of Nola were true morons of the highest order.  How any of them have jobs, afforded plane tickets, etc. is beyond me.  I'm just happy I made it to Charleston in one piece.  On the flight to Charleston, SB and I decided to start our trip off on an excellent note, so we ordered screwdrivers at 10 AM during the 2 minute beverage service on the 5 minute flight from Atlanta to Charleston.  We had some Skyy in the sky.  I highly recommend it.  Gets your weekend started off on the right foot.  Clearly, we were enjoying ourselves.

Not the best angle, but nonetheless you get the picture.

Once we made it to Charleston, our fun weekend began with a stop at Taco Boy for some frozen screwdrivers (yum!!) and some lunch.  Our waiter seemed to be struggling some which made for a very entertaining lunch.  One quote - 

KZ - "Do you have pinot grigio?"
Waiter - "No, we like to keep it simple around here.  We have pinot grigio and chardonnay."

Um - REALLY?!  I truly do wonder about the state of the American mind at times and then I remember we elected Obama, so clearly the majority of people just don't get it.... (minor political sidenote - I just couldn't resist)

Anyway, so our afternoon progressed with shopping around Charelston, some mid afternoon champagne and then on to our love host, Brianne's house to freshen up for the night ahead.  Brianne was an excellent host.  She took us to a great place for dinner that night, Coast.  They had so many great things on the menu.  This was our first success with a waiter thus far on the trip.  Even the hostess at Catch had issues with finding our reservation... 

Dinner at Catch

 After Catch, we went and had some drinks a few places in downtown Charleston.  Don't remember the area, but I remember liking the bars.  We needed to kill some time before we headed to the drag show later that night.  That was hilarious.  I had never been to a drag show.  I have no idea how I haven't managed to go to one while living in Nola, but eh, first time for everything.

At the drag show.  SB and her lovely Instagram skills.

On to Saturday.  I woke up with a lovely hangover...  So typical, but eventually I got over myself.  We went to a great little sandwich place (again courtesy of Brianne and her excellent hostess skills) and then off to the beach.  It was so nice to sit on the beach for a little while and just hangout.  Though I must say, the beaches on the Gulf Coast just don't compare with the Atlantic beaches.  The Gulf has the best beaches, hands down.  Don't get me wrong, it was really fun, but the sandy white beaches and crystal blue water of the gulf will always win.  Anyway, after a couple hours of chilling on the beach, we, of course, needed some cocktails.  So, we headed to Home Team to get some painkillers.  It's what this place is known for apparently.

Me and KZ.  Although I must admit, this picture is posed.  I was not drinking a painkiller.  I was trying to avoid another hangover like I had earlier that day.

After we got back from the beach, we freshen up once again to head out for the night.  But first, we had a little lingerie shower for KZ.  We had a custom made cake made.  Trust me, it was excellent, but I promised the groom it wouldn't be for public consumption.

All of KZ's lingerie loot

After the lingerie shower, we headed out for another fun night.  We did a lot of dancing, made friends with a bachelor party and judged the shit out of another bachelorette party that was out that night.  They all had "Team Bride" written on white tank tops and super short shorts with "war paint" on their faces.  They look ridiculous.  To top it all off, I'm pretty the bride and her maids were all either former or current strippers based on their behavior and dancing abilities...  More pictures to come when I finally upload the pictures from camera onto my computer.

Our last day (sad) we went to a yummy brunch (thanks again Brianne) at Red Drum with bottomless mimosas and bellinis.  I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we all had a great trip.  No drama, no selfish bitches, no tamtrums, etc.  In all in all, stress free, fun weekend, which is exactly how I prefer all my weekends and life in general to be.

One last cheers at brunch - can't wait to celebrate Joe and KZ's big day!!

Until next time people, cheers!

Italy!!

Back in May, I was lucky enough to take a wonderful vacation to Italy with my mom and Nola mom (a post about our friendship another day).  Just know that this trip wouldn't have happened without her beyond gracious invitation to my mom and I to come stay at her rented villa in Ravello on the Almafi coast for a week.  Italy was absolutely amazing.  I had been there once before with friends, so I was very excited to go back.

I was also looking forward to this trip because I was hoping this trip would be the medicine/therapy/whatever you want to call it to help bring my mom back to life after the death of my grandmother.  She was having a really hard time, and I was very worried about her.  Understandably so, but I didn't know what I could do to help her living two hours away with a full time job.  Luckily for us, Italy happened!

My mom and I flew to Rome and stayed there for a few days.  The flight over was HORRIBLE.  I felt ill the whole time and being jammed into the back of a plane for 10+ hours is no fun.  My poor mom put up with my ass the whole time, bless her.  I'm surprised she didn't just tell me to drink some wine and go to sleep, haha!  (PS - I'm famous for drinking some wine and just falling asleep sitting up, my bff can attest to this...).  Anyway, we made it to Rome!  We stayed at this great, tiny hotel near the Spanish steps with lots of great shops ideally located only minutes away :)  We had our own little courtyard with a table and chairs.  It was so great to just sit out there in the afternoon with a glass of wine, relax and read 50 Shades of Grey (yes, read all three.  excellent reads, but now I need a bf)....

A view of the courtyard from the roof of our hotel.

Mom and I on the rooftop of our hotel.

Mom and I did some sightseeing in Rome, but not a ton.  We were both so jetlagged from the flight over, and we had both been before, so we didn't feel any urgency to rush through Rome and see everything there is to see.  We drank wine at every meal except breakfast and just did whatever.  Just great bonding time.  We did make it to the Vatican on Sunday to see the end of Mass on the big screens outside St. Peter's.  What was amazing was the number of people gathered in the square to watch Mass and then just the constant steam of people that kept coming into the square.  I wasn't sure why until I realized (like an idiot) that the Pope was going to come out and do his traditional Sunday blessing from his apartment window.  So, Cheryl and I waited with the thousands of other tourists to see the Pope.  It was a great experience.  He spoke in 7 different languages, and the people who spoke whichever language he was speaking at the time erupted in applause when he began in their language.  That was pretty cool.  

The Pope!

His message that day focused on the Holy Family.  I liked that his message was about that on the particular day I was there because as anyone who knows me knows, I want a family more than anything in this world.  Just waiting on God and his plan to help me find the right man, so we can start a family of our own.  Until then, I'll continue to have fun and pray that it will work out (easier said than done).

Ok, so on to Ravello.  After 4 days in Rome, we headed to Ravello Monday afternoon in a ridiculous downpour.  It was slightly scary since we had no idea where we were.  However, it didn't hurt that we were being driven there by a hot Italian man in a huge beautiful Mercedes.  Thanks Salvatore!

When we finally made it there, I have never been happier to get out of a car.  Let's just say, me and my stomach did not exactly like the tiny roads up the side of the mountain to Ravello.  But, I survived!!  I was so happy to see my Nola mom.  She had been in Italy for 3 weeks, so we hadn't really talked.  That's a long time to not talk to someone you talk to a few times a week.

Our time in Ravello was wonderful.  We took a boat ride to Capir for the day.  We learned how to make pizza.  Turns out, I suck at it!  My mom, as usual, kicked ass at making dough, as she does with most things culinary.  The last night we were there we had a bbq (although there was nothing bbq about it).  We had pasta, grilled calamari, shrimp, veggies, etc.  It was very delicious, especially after all the carbs we had been eating for the past week.  They also surprised me with an early bday celebration!  The cake was so delicious!!  I LOVE that it said Happy Birthday Grasshopper.  Haha!  My Nola mom calls me that because that's essentially what I am in her life.  She tries to teach me the ways of the world and give me wisdom about how things should be in life.

View from the villa...amazing

View from the center of Ravello up into the mountains.  I love how you can see the different levels of orchards.  There were lemon orchards everywhere.  Amazing!

A small cruise ship in the port of Almafi for the day.

Almafi

Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday afternoon :)

Our boat for the day to take us to Capri.  My favorite day of the trip!

Loving the boat ride.

View from the boat ride.

One of the grottos we saw on the way to Capri.

I would like to be friends with these people.

View of Capri from the center of town.  Pure heaven

Kreg and lemons the size of his head (Sidenote - I was the youngest person on the trip by at least 25 years.  So much fun1)

I just loved these wild flowers.

An enormous hydrangea tree.  This was taller than me.  I LOVE, LOVE hydrangeas.  

More of Capri

Me and Cher :)

Me attempting to make pizza dough = epic failure

The pizza oven on the property and our wonderful chef who made all the pizzas for us!

Cher and I again.  She schooled me in the dough making.

Yum

Last night in Ravello with Debbie (Nola mom).  We had the chef come back and do a bunch of grilled food.

But don't worry, because you're in Italy, we had some pasta before the grilled seafood.

Cher and I - we both had LOTS of wine on board.

Debbie and our great chef - he spoke no English the poor guy.  We were trying to get him to say Who Dat and things of that nature.  We told him that was a requirement if he was coming to Nola.

An early surprise bday celebration for me.  It says "Happy Birthday Grasshopper" .  Debbie calls me The Grasshopper similar to the Karate Kid.  She's teaching me the wisdom of the world.

Our chef, yours truly, Debbie and Tano (he ran the house, so great!)

Clearly, from the pictures alone, we had an absolutely fabulous trip!  I highly recommend an Italian getaway whenever possible.

Until next time, ciao and salu!!!  

Title Change

So...hello blog readers (the few of you who actually read this thing).  I've decided to amp up my blog posting inspired by my good friend Ashley's blog Happiness Is....  Ashley is such a great blogger.  I seriously doubt I will post as dutifully and nicely as she does, but who knows.

My original blog title, Still Figuring It Out, was about me being a early/late 20s woman living in Nola and still trying to figure things out.  That being said, I'm still trying to figure out many things in life, but I felt like all my posts needed to somehow tie into that theme.  Then, the other night at Bunco, thanks to Ashley, I felt inspired to change my blog title to Sh*t About Me.  This way, I feel much more comfortable about posting about a variety of issues, thoughts, topics, etc. that I never felt were appropriate for the initial title of my blog.

Ok, so there's the explanation for the new blog title.  I intend to start posting more soon.  I need to blog about my amazing trip to Italy, my current man situation or lack thereof and other various things.  Stay tuned people.  It'll be good.

Saying Goodbye

So...I'm not really into spreading Debbie Downer-ness, but I feel the need to blog about this.

At this current moment in my life, my grandmother (my favorite person on the planet) is dying of cancer (she was diagnosed, finally, in January and it has been a long, painful goodbye since then).  She is nearing the end this week just in time for Easter (which is sort of ironic, but incredibly sad at the same time).  Easter is such a time for renewal and rebirth, and my grandmother is reaching the end of her life here on Earth.  However, I try to find comfort in the fact that her soul will have a new life in Heaven with my grandfather, her brothers who have long since passed and her father who passed away when she was in her teens.  (All of this is my Catholicism coming out in me.  It brings me comfort in this otherwise incredibly shitty time in my life.)

I don't know how to prepare this for.  I don't think you really can.  Earlier tonight, I put together something together that I want to say at her funeral that is being planned tomorrow even though she hasn't died because it is that immeninent according to everyone who knows anything about medicine, etc.  I guess realisticly I know this too, but it's so hard to imagine my grandmother, my sweet Shirley, not being in my life anymore.

I used to call her almost everyday on my way to work to check in with her.  I am truly her granddaughter.  She has no patience (hello me), she is an AVID Saints fan, she is very critical and worries about everyone (I don't have that too much yet, however, it's coming more and more as I get older).

Saying goodbye is never easy, but I feel like I am having an especially hard time with this situation.  Again don't mean to go back to my Debbie Downer-ness, but I just wish I someone's chest to cry on.  I feel like I can lean on my friends, somewhat, but I also feel ridiculous but they all have their "someone" that they turn to in times like these, so I can't really get in the way of that/don't want to.  Hello awkward.  I'm hoping the combo of my grandma and grandfather, up in heaven, looking over me will help bring some success in the man department.  (I realize that I haven't posted about my breakup which happened since the last post - that will be for another day).

Anyway, I just wanted to say, once again (I've said it a lot to my friends), that the long goodbye absolutely SUCKS.  There's no other way to describe it.  The only things that seem to help are trying to be a good daughter (my poor mom has been playing nurse to my grandmother this entire time - she deserves a medal or ridiculously fabulous vacation or all of the above), my friends that keep me laughing and pinto grigio....

Below are some pictures of me and my Shirley over the past couple of years.  Our relationship has definitely grown during my 4 years of living in Nola.

My 26th bday dinner at Bayona last year.  Last bday Shirley will be here to celebrate :(

I was her plus one to a wedding in Nola  a few years ago.  We had a great time.  She was a great date :)

Ultimate moral of this post - cherish your grandparents and spend as much time as you can with them.  They will never be around as long as you want them to be.  

I will forever love and miss Shirley!!

Cheers!

Christine