The 31st Birthday Project

This is not helping me to restrict my calories!

Trader Joes and it’s delicious treats will be the death of my two-day diet.

Well isn’t this fitting?

Here we are, January 3rd, in the heart of the help-self season and Week 14 of the 31st birthday project…the project that like most of us (come January 20th or approximately two weeks post New Years resolution kick-off) took a flying leap off the life changing wagon back at the beginning of the holiday season. I mean, do I really want to embarrass myself with posting New Years resolutions…you know, like the ones I’ve been posting about for the past three months but still struggle to keep?

Why is positive change such a challenge? Lord knows if I challenged myself to eating ice cream everyday for a year I’d be a poster-child for discipline and committment. Everyone would be wearing rubber yellow bracelets with my name on it while they lapped up a chocolate chip cone with sprinkles.

Despite my utter failure to commit to any new happy habits throughout the entire month of December, the show must go on. I’m still going to avoid getting fancy, however (no master cleanses and Chinese language lessons) and in the spirit of tradition and what January is commonly associated with, this week’s happy habit is all about slimming down.

Week 14’s happy habit: RESTRICT.

Someone ate her body weight in festive treats and it was me. I live in LA now; winter weight is unacceptable. I don’t need any extra subcutaneous layer to keep me warm; the year-round sunshine does that. Time to stop pretending it’s totally okay to eat three desserts in a day…multiple days in a row….starting NOW!

(…as opposed to starting at lunch today, when I ate a slice of BBQ chicken pizza)

We lost power for hours in a crazy wind storm last night and I had to park down the street because my garage door wouldn’t open….but at least I’m not this guy.

Appreciate!

- my health and the health of my family and friends. Last year this time, my oldest sister was checking herself into the emergency room to discover that she had a possibly fatal form of bacterial meningitis. This year she’s hosting Thanksgiving in her new house. Much to be thankful for.

- my best friend and soon-to-be husband :) …and to my soon-to-be mother-in-law who was gracious and generous enough to give him her own 42 year-old engagement ring to give to me…an on-going love story.

- my amazing family - supportive parents and two one-of-a-kind sisters who have seriously paved the way for me in more ways than they could ever know…and my NEW family, the Martinez clan. I couldn’t think of a more awesome group of people to be related to!

- my job…that I have a job at all and was fortunate enough to be promoted this year and to work full time on a project that’s my own - and to work with fun, smart people and to work for great leaders who believe enough in me to let me make my little project a program.

- my Dad’s job - because he still has much more to give back to the industry before playing golf everyday…and for my Mom who is awesome enough to support him from afar.

- living by the beach. It won’t be forever, but I appreciate that sand and ocean every day. It feels like my own.

- Good friends. Everywhere. They’re my family, minus the blood.

- Rob Gronkowski. I mean, the guy’s a house. GO PATS.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours :)

It only seems fitting that this week’s happy habit should focus on thankfulness. Thanksgiving is THE holiday for eating and football, which will consume much of my time on the best Thursday of the year; but it is meant to be a day of reflection on how there is much to be thankful for, despite the repetitive headlines that would make you think otherwise. The thing about appreciation is that it’s needy, ironically enough - appreciation requires constant exercise, and without it we’re often left swaying to the elevator music of our own pity party. Appreciation brings perspective, because at its very core it is an existentialist concept. It is an understanding that life is short and fragile and in its simpliest form - an attitude that anything we have and experience is better than being dead.

Whenever I want to complain about pretty much anything, which I do a lot, I try to play the “But at least I’m not” game. Example: “I seriously want to poke my eyes out with a dull spoon over the traffic on the 405…but at least I can walk” or “For the LOVE, I might purposefully drop my iPhone down the toilet if it locks up one more time while I’m playing Angry Birds…but I least I have a job.” Dramatic comparison is the quintessential appreciation game - and while I absolutely preserve the right of each individual to be upset or disheartened by their own unique situation, this type of relativity can force the appreciation a person may need to confront whatever problem he or she is experiencing. In comparison to no legs or unemployment, perhaps a slow iPhone is manageable and not worth the temper tantrum. #firstworldproblems.

Here is my personal appreciation bottom line: at the end of your life, when it’s just you in a bed and the little time you have left, who or what will comfort you? What will be the memories or things or people that will give you the peace to know that you’ve made the most of it all? Whatever the answer - those are the only things you really need in life, save oxygen and water. When all else goes wrong, look to those staples - your family, best friends, amazing experiences, major accomplishments - and know you’re doing alright.

Oh, Hello floor of my office! Don’t you look lovely and organized!

My new gap in my teeth - courtesy of my dentist - should really help out with the flossing. It’s in preparation for BRACES tomorrow…which should really not help out at all with the flossing. And we’re back to square one!

But seriously - I get to feel like one of the Beverly Hillbillies for the day and it’s kind of awesome. Where is my hay??

This is part of my office. Can you see why I need to organize? I can’t bear to show you the desk. Sigh.

This week’s happy habit: Organize. With all of the travel, visitors, and sickness, my apartment/work/life feels like it is in complete disarray. As the crazy type-A I’ve turned out to be as an adult, I struggle to feel completely relaxed (and/or at all relaxed) in the midst of clutter and unfinished business. Sorting through mail, laundry, prepping for the winter (yes, there are things to be done even in LA), paying bills, filing, cleaning out the fridge and the pantry….these stupid, mundane tasks keep overwhelming my schedule and I’m hoping I can clean things up a bit to get myself back to a point where I’m just maintaining a certain level of order and cleanliness rather than taking on some major endeavor every weeknight and weekend just to get to my bedroom.

So far this week, I’ve sorted through all of my mail, separating bills/donations/filing and recycling the rest. I am halfway through pulling all of my summer clothes for storage and pulling out all of my winter wardrobe for wearing (honestly, sweaters take up so much space). I still need to tackle the desk and a find a home for a few other random items around the house, but we’re off to a good start!

One additional note: I titled this happy habit ‘Organize+’ because I need to catch up on a few other happy habits due to my two week absence. I’m going to tackle a second habit this week and two habits next week to make up the difference. This week’s second habit: PROTECT. What do I mean by this? Taking basic steps to protect my health - flossing and sunscreen. It may seem obvious, but I am the worst when it comes to keeping up with flossing. I will brush my teeth until my gums recede into my jaw bone, but it seems I’m only compelled to floss when I eat popcorn or Starbursts. California living and all, I’m spotty at best when it comes to wearing sunscreen on any part of my body other than my face - not like that says much about any effort on my part; it’s almost impossible these days not to wear sunscreen on your face with all of the SPFs added to daily moisturizers and foundations.

The goal: sunscreen on my whole body at least in the morning and flossing at least once a day!