To a long, lost love

Dear Planner,

You were brutally kidnapped from me a week ago today. I've looked everywhere for you and have even dispatched a search party to find you, but alas you are still missing. I miss your butter yellow cover and the way you provide enough room for me to write all my activities in, without squishing the letters together. I miss you taking up room in the front pocket of my backpack. It is very lonely without you. I miss you...COME BACK! And to the hoser who abducted my beautiful planner and hasn't turned it in yet...GIVE IT BACK!(what a jerkface... honestly...who steals a planner, with my name in it too! grrr)

Truly yours, your kindred spirit,
Megan

Spring "Training"

Many of you know I am Nutritional Science major. And generally I don't really tell people the truth or give advice to people about their nutrition beliefs unless asked because for most people it is a sensitive topic. But as the "dreadful" swimsuit season draws closer and closer I have witnessed a number of people going on this diet or that and spending ridiculous amounts of money on the "next weight loss break through". People have been asking me all sorts of questions about how many carbs or sugar I should eat and blah blah blah. I found this entertaining article that will answer many people's questions. I thought it added some new insights into the nations obsession with weight loss. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but I wanted to record it because I think it's very interesting. Goodnight!

Living in Fat City

If you live in Australia, the US, the UK, Canada or New Zealand, then you live in the same place as me; Fat City. Fat City of course, being more of a collective mindset, and a culture of eating too much and moving too little, than any geographical location, or ‘literal’ place. And while it’s not a literal place, it is very real. If you know what I mean.

The weight of the average Australian increases by about 0.4kg (1lb) per year, every year, and it’s a pretty similar figure in most Western countries. It’s predicted that Australia (where I live) will be a totally obese population by 2050. There’s a thought. What an achievement. This is the forecast, despite the fact that we are now more educated, more informed and more aware, than we’ve ever been before. The truth is, in 2008 we are constantly bombarded with more and more information and education about diet, lifestyle, exercise, obesity, general health and all its variables, yet still, we grow.

As an Exercise Scientist, observer of humanity, and ex-fat bloke, there are plenty of things which fascinate me about living in Fat City (the culture, the habits, the behaviors, the thinking, the excuses, the lies, the marketing, the trends, the media), but here’s my short list:

1. We’ve never be more informed, educated, resourced or equipped to combat obesity, yet we’ve never been fatter. We live in the information age, yet we do nothing with it. I’m amused by those who suggest that obesity is primarily an education problem, when in reality, it is (for the majority) a self-control problem. Self control: yes, that crazy, outdated notion I’ve spoken of many times before. We are inundated with education but we choose not to learn. Real ‘learning’ would have resulted in a large-scale positive change in behavior, and of course, decline in obesity levels. It hasn’t. In fact, if there was a positive correlation between the increase in education and the decline of global obesity, then we would see virtually no obesity at all. But… if we wanted to be cheeky and use ’selective science’ (as many ‘experts’ do), we could actually conclude that the increase in education may have resulted in the increase in obesity. After all, there is a direct relationship: more education, more obesity. Yes I’m being sarcastic, but you understand my point. When it comes to diet and exercise, we know what to do, but we don’t do what we know.

2. I am constantly amazed at our ability (as a society) to complicate the simple. How many more books, programs and breakthrough weight-loss discoveries do we need? Really? Here’s a wacky concept, increase energy expenditure (exercise, general activity) and decrease energy intake (stop eating so much crap). A little scientific I know, but hey, it just might work. Of course it’s simple, but it requires genuine and consistent effort. Simple, of course, not to be confused with ‘easy’. And therein lies the problem. Which leads me to point three.

3. Our obsession with the quick fix. We don’t wanna work for those results. We want someone or something to do it for us. We are precious and lazy. We are addicted to the shortcut. Give me the pill, powder, potion, product or surgeon that will make me beautiful. I am allergic to sweat and hard work it’s so ‘1985′. We are a culture obsessed with ‘easy’ and sometimes creating amazing requires a little effort. Or a lot. And we hate that. Sorry about that. I’ll try and change it.

4. We love playing the ‘blame game’. We would rather justify, rationalize, explain and blame someone or something for our obesity, than take complete responsibility for our fat selves. Of course it’s not our fault. We are poor victims of situations, circumstances and genetics. So not fair. If what we do to our body (lifestyle, food, exercise) is the biggest influence on our level of fitness and fatness (which it is), then obesity is typically the result of poor decision making, rather than poor genetics. Even people with poor genetics can get in great shape, if they work with their genetics and manipulate the variables the right way.

5. I laugh when people get grumpy at me for telling the truth; what they don’t want to hear.“Okay John, it will only take two weeks to lose that hundred pounds and that huge gut you built over the last thirty years, and yes, it will be easy, fun and painless. You will definitely look incredible by next Tuesday. Wednesday, tops. In fact, just leave your body here; I’ll do it for you.”

6. I marvel that people pay thousands of dollars per year to walk/run on a treadmill with a built in TV, radio and fan, when they could get the same physiological benefit (or better) heading out their front door and returning thirty minutes later. No driving to the gym, no petrol costs, no waiting for machines, no travel time.

7. Our inability to finish things. We start jogging. We stop. We go on a diet. We go off it. We join a gym. We go five times. We make resolutions. We don’t follow through. We lose fat. We regain it. We start. We stop. We get fit. We get unfit. We operate on emotion. We always find a ‘reason’ to give up. We experience momentary motivation, but we never truly commit. Real commitment (”I will do this no matter what”) creates life-long change, not temporary weight loss or occasional fitness. We’re great at starting, crap at finishing.

8. The Victim. “But you don’t understand my life, body, time restraints, problems, situation, history, challenges, injuries, medical conditions.” Your problem isn’t your body; it’s your thinking. Get your mind in shape and your body will follow.

Great Weekend... Even better Monday

This weekend was so great! First, I took a killer test on Saturday, while I was doing this my sweetiepie cleaned the whole house! Now that's my kind of hubby;) I was then comatose for about 3 hours after my test, recuperating from the 3 hours spend in the testing center. Then guess what..you'll never guess.....WE GOT A Wii!!!!!!!!!! It is so dang fun!! Matt sold his old, piece of junk computer on ebay and got a nice chunk of cash out of it. I told him if he sold it he could spend it on a Wii. Mind you this was after much disputing about what to do with the dough(i.e. pay off more loans, put in savings, etc.) But after seeing how much Matt plays this thing I have no regrets. I think he has gotten more exercise in the past 2 days then he has in the past 2 years!!! I say he can play this thing as much he wants!! And the best way to make our lives healthier is to move more.
Then on Sunday my V.T. and our home teachers came over. Don't you just love visiting teachers and home teachers? You ALWAYS feel good after they come to visit. Then we played more Wii on Sunday and Today(Monday) after class and work, we hit the glorious Costco. Then went out for delish sushi...where I proceeded to gross Matt out by eating the "real" kind of sushi. Then we picked up a couple of things from Albertson's. Then for FHE treat we went to Pudding on the Rice. OH MY GOSH THIS PLACE IS GOOD!! They have all these types of rice pudding flavors, and I usually hate rice pudding, but this stuff was amazing! I got the Bittersweet Symphony mmmmmmyum. Then we came home and organized our fridge and cabinets to make room for the obscene amounts of food we bought, it should last us until the end of the semester, that's how much food we bought. And now I'm gonna do homework. Oh it was a great last couple of days. Oh and I've been looking at houses online and noticed that the Northeast Area of Houston has a large supply of foreclosures. So I was wondering if anybody has any good advice about buying or not buying a foreclosed house. Please comment!
And here are some really funny videos that I was rolling over! How cute is this Oriental kid and gotta love the song he's singing! The Visiting Teaching one is sooo true, but makes you want to be a better visiting teacher.

This is me...nuff said.

Supercook to the rescue!!!!

So Matt found this cool thing on one of his geek sites and I am looooving it! It's www.supercook.com and all you do is enter in whatever ingredients you have on hand and it comes up with all these recipes for you! So cool! So if you have no idea what to make for dinner or don't feel like thinking about it this site does it for you! I've already used a couple of recipes off of it and they were delish. And some already have nutrition facts for them, bonus! Supercook to the rescue!

L is for the way you look at me....

Warning: This post contains "mooshy" content and may make you wanna head to the toilet.

Happy Valentines Day! I'm not really into Valentines day much.. I mean why wait until one day during the year when you can express your love and do special things for your loved ones everyday! That being said I dedicate this post to schmoopy.
*You are the perfect match for me
*Anything that is my weakness is your strength
*You are so full of charity and patience. Sometimes I wish I could see you yell just once..but nope you never ever ever do, and I love you for it.
*You have helped me grow and have always let me spread my wings and "fly". You never hold me back, you encourage me to go for my dreams and develop myself into what I want to be.
*You always know when not to be Mr. Fixit and just hold me.
*Everyone adores you!
*When I get riled up about something dumb you gently remind me, "Does it really matter?"
*You make me laugh soooo much!
*You are such kid, and it takes the edge off of daily life.
*You are going to be the ultimate dad!
*You are so dedicated to things that really matter in this life.
*You are the least judgmental person I know.
*I'm so proud of how hard you have worked to reach your goals. You amaze me with your ambition.
*I love the crinkles you get around your eyes when you laugh or smile.
*Last but not least you love me for me. I love you so much schmoopy, you complete me.

Random thoughts

Look at my new adorable apron! It was a belated christmas gift from my lovely sis-in-law Amy. Honestly the best gift ever! Thanks Ames!This is me putting the apron into actual use! Look at those cooking skills, must be the apron!

Oh and after 31/2 years of marriage I finally got Matt to do some Yoga with me! Probably the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life...not that he's not good or anything, but just picture a man attempting yoga when normally it hurts him to touch his pinky and thumb together. So funny! Love that man!

And how about those primaries huh? They have totally thrown me for a loop. I have no clue who to vote for if Clinton and McCain are the nominees. I don't like either of them. Maybe I'll just move to Europe or something...hmm very tempting. Hopefully there is some big scandal about McCain between now and June and Romney can whoop McCain once and for all! That I would like very much!

Glenn Beck Tribute

Very well done:

A New Addition to the Family

And no I'm not pregnant. But tonight we were at Matt's ASM opening social thingy and he won the raffle for this sweeeet Mac! It's an original Mac SE30 courtesy of 1989, yeah baby! Matt's gonna pimp it out so we can play Oregon Trail and all our favorite old school games on it. I'm so excited to go hunt buffalo and kill way too much and have to put it back, die of dyptheria and cholera, pick berries and wild flowers, cart my way over frozen ponds and even trade with the Indians! So cool! Congratulations to us!

3 Day Weekend Highlights

Friday- homework, saw August Rush at dollar theater. Best movie I've ever seen, despite what the critics say, definetly a buyer for us
Saturday- more homework, cleaned house top to bottom, cleaned out fridge-so gross!-, saw Bee Movie at dollar theater-cute but not a buyer.
Sunday- day of rest, researched houses online, made banana bread..yum!
Monday- slept in ridiculously late, went to Costco-bought too much, homework.

The best jeans in the world!...well for me anyways.

So I have finally found the perfect pair of jeans for my body. A while ago I went to zafu.com which basically asks you all kinds of questions about your body type and jean fit and then matches you with the best jeans for your build. So I took the advice of the #1 kind for my body. I was little skeptical at first, but while I was in Seattle last summer I found a pair and I loved them, so much in fact that I have worn a whole in the crotch area. So I went to Nordstoms ( In juniors department) tonight and found the same kind in a ton of different styles and washes and aaaaaaaalll of them fit perfectly, I almost couldn't decide which ones to pick! Now, I have wide hips and basically no butt and these are just lose enough around my hips not to squeeze "the handles" and tight enough on the buns and legs to make my butt look perky and bonus....my bum doesn't hang out when I bend over!! They are called Vigoss Jeans and the best part is they are a reasonable $54.00!!!!! Talk about a deal. I thought I was going to have to shell out at least $90 for a quality/stylish pair. So the search is over... I have finally found the perfect jeans!

Oh I love vacation!

Christmas was excellent this year! Santa was very good to us. The best gifts were a Lovesac, I got the 7th season of gilmore girls, $$$, and Matt got a cute card stating he is allowed to finally go and purchase a new laptop of his choice. He has been needing a new one for a looong time. We spent some quality time with my family at our place and played lots of games and ate way too much! Oh I do love vacations! It's amazing how nice everyone is to each other this time of year I love it! We have been very blessed. I'm not so excited for school to start on Monday, but only one semester left....yes! Let the craziness begin!

Pre Christmas

This is what we woke up to a few days before Christmas, very beautiful to look at, not so fun to drive in.

This is our Christmas tree. Mind you this is what it looked like 2 weeks ago. Now it is nothing but a big, dry, fire hazard. We didn't even dare to turn the lights on Christmas Eve for fear of burning the house down. I'm with Cher on the only buy fresh cut trees theory.

We got babysit my little niece one night and I had to video her dancing to this Napoleon Dynamite Song. This is the song he dances to at the end of the movie. She is sooo adorable. It has been so fun watching her grow into a full blown rebellious toddler. We'll miss her tons when we leave.

Ah.. sweet relief!

So this has been us for the last 5 days (finals) and we are finally done! My brain is officially fried. So sorry for the lack for blogging. More updates to come on our christmas tree, babysitting and much much more!

Romney

So I've been listening to all the feedback about Mitt Romney's speech and such and frankly I am getting very tired of all of it, the negative and the positive. Why does it matter that he's a Mormon! I'm a Mormon but that doesn't mean I'm going to vote for him, I haven't decided if I agree with all of his political views, sure I agree with his religion but that is about it. He is just like every other candidate but just happens to be part of a religion that not very many people know about. So what! If he can run the country better than all the candidates then that is all that matters. Also just because he is a Mormon doesn't mean he follows everything the church teaches to the "T". I'm tired of people saying that "Well he's a Mormon that means he doesn't believe in homosexuality and is always pro life" Wrong! The Mormon faith doesn't brainwash it's members to only believe in what it teaches. Romney has his own views and beliefs. Just like how everyone of every religion don't always follow the teachings of his or her religion. So basically, get over the fact that he's Mormon. If you are really concerned about his religion then go get the FACTS. The easiest way to find out what a Mormon believes, is to ask a practicing Mormon. Or go to www.lds.org or www.mormon.org. Okay that's all I'm done with my tangent. Have a great weekend!

Important Update!

So many things have happened this last month that I don't know where to begin. First, Matt got a job!!!!!!! He flew out for a final job interview with ExxonMobile in Houston, TX and got a call the next day giving him a job offer!! We are so excited! It is the perfect job for Matt and we know he will love it. We are probably going to move towards the end of the summer so that we have time to find a house and stuff. It's so nice to know that we have a place to go post graduation. We really feel blessed. Next, for Thanksgiving we went up to Matt's aunt's house in Kaysville and enjoyed the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had in my life! Seriously that was the best turkey I've ever eaten. We then stayed the night at G and G Andertons in Morgan and hung out with them for a little bit. Then we left Friday morning and came home so I could work on a paper that is due Monday. Talk about putting a damper on the holidays..yuck..homework. Overall we feel extremely blessed with everything that has happened in our lives. Really can life get any better?

Happy Birthday!!!!

Today is my baby sisters birthday!(and she hates it when I call her my baby sister:) I love her so much! She is been through more in her 20 years than most people experience in a life time and she has the most positive attitude about everything! She never lets life's struggles take her down. I just love her to death! HAPPY BIRHTDAY!

Our Last Day in Hawaii -Polynesian Cultural Center-

These are the last of our Hawaii pictures. I finally got them done...2 months later! Oh well, now I can move on. At the PCC we visited almost all of the islands that were represented. Tonga, Hawaii, Samoa, Figi, Tahiti, New Zealand, and some other smaller ones that I can't remember the name of. They had a river show where all the islands danced on their own rafts. It was so fun seeing all the different cultures come together and teach of their heritage. A lot of the people who work there work in exchange for tuition at BYU- Hawaii. I thought that was pretty cool. I learned how to hula dance (see video below) and Matt got a sweet lookin tattoo right on his farmers tan line! It was probably the best part of the whole trip.

Matt, learning how to use a spear

This is for my bro-in-law, Chase. He's from Tonga and Matt wanted to show off his muscles.

Matt learning how to fire twirl.

This guy gave the best expressions!

PCC Luau

We went to Luau that the PCC offers for dinner. There's the pig that they had been roasting all day. Matt thought the lady with the guitar was pretty funny for some reason. And I had my first taste of POU (sp?) SICK. I thought I was going to die! Matt didn't even let on how nasty that stuff was until I tried it. That sneaky little devil! We were sweating like crazy but it was worth it so we could have the whole PCC experience.

Day 6 PCC Night Show

So blogger is being really lame right now so you'll just have to settle for this little post. On Monday we went to the PCC and this is from the night show. We were so wasted from seeing all the islands and such, but by the time it rolled around, we perked right up when they started doing all the cool stuff. Fire twirling, jumping on fire with grass skirts, and boy do those Tahitian girls know how to move their hips! It was a blast! Check out the cool video at the bottom of the fire twirlers.