The Mad Happenings of a Glass Princess

What is this picture?!
This is a pictorial representation of my comfort zone, 18 inches x 18 inches.
Nicole is a creature of habit--I will eat the same thing in a restaurant, I will 'cook' the same thing in my house, I will do the same routine in the morning, I walk the same route every time with Brody, etc. When something gets thrown in that doesn't belong, sometimes I'm not quick to react or it just throws me completely off and I have a hard time getting back in my little square.
In some aspects of life, I'm reaching a big toe out of the box, sometimes even the whole foot! for example: I finally got fed up at work and made some changes, I stood up for myself and I ran away to another group. lol. Actually, I'm just doing a rotation, but I'm learning new stuff and I'm gaining confidence.
I also branched out in the gym. I was always afraid that I would make a fool out of myself or that I wasn't fit enough to be working out to be fit (crazy Nicole logic), but finally I said "screw that, I need to shrink my tush" and I go and work out now and if anyone wants to watch me go right ahead, I really don't care.
Another area I pushed my boundaries was with Internet dating. I definitely don't want to rehash all that craziness, but just to mention that it took a lot for me to try and do that.

If you stand back and look at these few examples they all happened because I was at some breaking point. I guess that is how the universe works--for every force, there is an equal and opposite force.
So what is my next adventure!? Heaven help me it is speed dating. It was recommended by a few different people, but I always shot it down immediately because I couldn't imagine putting myself in front of someone and having them judge me in 5 to 7 minutes, it goes against every fiber of my being and just the thought could send me running for the potato chips. However, a force came by and is pushing me again, causing me to react. The internet dating was part of it, the sheer volume of idiots and crotch shots is enough to cause anyone to run away, but it was also learning that I am someone special too. I finally figured out that I'm not such a bad catch--I'm successful, have a cool grumpy dog, damn funny, know the difference between your and you're, artistic, great friend, love to travel, I read, and I'm just an over all good person. Now all I have to do is sit down across from a guy, portray that chick I just described and let ME judge HIM for 5 to 7 minutes.
It is not going to be easy for me to do it, but I guess anything in life worth doing well is not easy, right? I'm very nervous, I'm scared that the old Nicole will pop up and I'll go running for the nearest exit (and knowing my luck, it will be an emergency one and I'll set off the alarm). I'm very comfortable around my friends and others that I know, but in a 'stranger' situation, I like being a wall flower, I don't 'work the room'--I wouldn't know how to work a room if you paid me. So, my goal for the next three weeks until this event happens is try to overcome this anxiety and have fun with this.
I'll keep you posted...

I can remember it well... it was the 3rd birthday of Matteo's last January, there were cupcakes and pizza and chips and cookies and clementines! The clementines were for those who were trying to eat better, I was 'trying' at the time, so I thought I would grab one, I couldn't remember the last time I had one. It was heaven. I had found a new 'healthy' snack.
So began my obsession with clementines. I would buy two or three 5lb bags at a time, and they would not last in the house long. I would have a few after my eggs in the morning, a few after lunch, a few when I got home and a few for 'dessert'. I LOVED THEM.
And then it happened one day... I looked down at my hands and they looked like I had been playing in self-tanner, my feet looked similar. I was eating so many oranges that my hands, feet and even my elbows were turning an ugly shade of fake orange/yellow color. There is some chemical in them that if you eat it at an alarming rate (I passed that months ago at this point), your body can't flush it and it tints parts of your body. This was NOT a healthy snack.
I knew I needed a clementine intervention. I admitted to myself as I looked at my fake-tan hands that I need to quit the clem. Nicole knows no moderation on things she loves, I knew I had to go cold turkey. It was difficult at first, I craved the natural sugar, but it got better after a while. It also helped that they soon went out of season, I wasn't being faced with them at the grocery store every time I walked in. My fake-tan hands and feet turned back to normal after about six weeks; yes, it took that long to get all that chemical out of my system.

After some time, Jodie recommended I try apples, she was sick of me mourning the clementines.
Let the angels sing!! I found Gala apples!
Now I'm an apple freak and I'm proud to say it. Way better than the clementines, they last longer in my belly, and they satisfy the crunch factor I need. Nature rocks! I eat three apples a day--one as part of my breakfast, one as an afternoon snack and one as my dessert.
I have found the best place to get Gala apples at Tar.get, no lie. They are the freshest and the best price. I will go out of my way to go to Tar.get to get my apples.
However, I'm running into an issue... it seems that Gala apples are getting out of season, there are tons of other ones, but the selection of Galas is decreasing. In anticipation of walking into Tar.get and not seeing my apples, I bought one of each of the other kind this weekend and did a taste test. NOPE. Nothing compares to my Galas. So with that, I'm hoping not to have another fruit meltdown, please let them stay around long enough for apple season to come back and more are available, I don't even mind paying a bit more for them.
To add salt on the wound... you have to walk past the clementines to get to the small selection of apples.
Damn delicious fruit.

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday season.

So, I'm taking a new approach on things. I've been all over the map with trying to eat right, get on that weight losing train again, staying upbeat during a tough battle, dealing with happy and sad family emotions and finding out who I really am.
Its enough to make someone crazy--oh wait! I am. Just Joking (kinda)

Anyway, I want to blog again. And I'm not going to put down all the "boohoo, Nicole is sad crap", I'd done with that. There are many moments and many people who bring smiles to my face everyday, and I believe they define me more than those sad moments do. So I shall be sharing those things that fit the name of this blog better. I have a lot of stories to share and I hope these bring a smile to your face or make you think.

Let's start off with Fac.ebo.ok:
At first I wasn't all into it, I wasn't looking forward to putting it on my phone or anything like that, but things have changed. I absolutely LOVE reading FB at different times of the day. To see how my friends children are acting that day/watching them grow or reading how a friend almost got trampled by cows trying to do a daily walk or seeing the picture of a new tattoo celebrating a milestone or sharing thoughts about a TV show they finally watched or to see the new nail polish they put on. All fun stuff. It is interesting to see a glimpse in the daily lives of people I care about. Some would say "who cares" about the color of some one's nail polish; I care, therefore, I shall continue to read.

Life Book:
I was introduced to this item by two good friends of mine: http://www.erincondren.com/store/index.php?cPath=129_956
It is a "Life Book" and it is the perfect item to keep track of certain aspects of your life. I don't record birthdays, work meetings or personal appts in this book, I record items like: what time I ate and what went in my pie hole, my weight for the morning (heading south slowly), how I felt that day and how many steps I did (my goal is 11,000 daily). There are spots each week for goals and to do lists, and at the beginning of the month there is a few lined sheets for random notes you want to put down. I found myself writing little reminders to myself or a quote from a song I like and going back days or weeks later to re-read them. This book is also a great size, not too big where you question if you should throw it in your bag and not to small where it will get lost within the piles of junk lying have around.
So, if you ever wanted to keep a food log or health log or a diary, check this thing out, it might be for you.
Side note: the retail price on this thing is waaaaay high. I love it, but $50 is hard to swallow for a really cute notebook. Thru a series of specials, I got it for $18, and for that price, it is worth every penny. The specials were listed on http://www.plumdistrict.com/-- yeah, yeah, this is a site for 'mom's' but so what; they have good deals on things that keep mothers sane, why can't I capitalize on that as well?!

Dating:
I've talked about this before, so I'm not going to re-cap everything. What I do want to discuss is how I now know I'm not alone. A friend introduced me to this blog: http://melissanibbles.blogspot.com/. I snort loudly every time I read her stuff. She has super quick wit and pulls no punches; she also talks about her dating life and some of her stories are things I have encountered too, scary how some things are universal.
I was also talking to the niece of my sister's close friend (yeah, stop and think of that trail), she is single and trying to date as well (but she is 29 with legs that don't quit and jet black hair, not 38 with legs that stop way short and gray root touch up), we were comparing stories over wine. One topic that came up is the amount of "junk" pictures we get sent to us. Not "junk" as in fake rolex adds or how you have a dead relative in Africa sitting on a fortune, but "junk" as in a guy's lower region. We were both laughing so hard, I thought wine was going to come out of our noses at one point.
Here are some examples of the lines that accompany these pictures:
"this could be yours this weekend!"
"this is what you're missing out on" (when you decide to stop communicating with them)
"I was bored after work so I thought I would snap a few pictures"
"I showed you mine, now you show me yours"
Yes, for those of you who are married and have missed the whole digital age of courtship, this is what is out there now. How can you possibly want to go out with a guy and look him in the eye knowing what his "junk" looks like. And then, how do you know if it really is 'him'. Wow, there seem to be a LOT of guys walking around with a rather large amount of "junk" in their pants, they all beat what the average is suppose to be. The best part is 99.9% of the guys don't show their face, all you get is a close up of where their brains really are.
With all these wonderful pictures, along with emails offering to show me in person, I have decided to not Internet date anymore. It is no longer worth seeing the decline of humanity in my inbox, I would like to meet a gentleman, not a boy who is showing off.

I think I've been on my soapbox for long enough today, my feet are beginning to hurt.
I do plan on sharing more of my insights. Please feel free to comment, I would love to know what you're thinking too.

Smiles my friends!
Nicole