mff.

1. The best part of October was going to the pumpkin patch with a few couple friends. In addition to the patch, there was an awesome corn maze, which took an hour and a half to traverse. Plus delicious sweet corn and cider at the end! 

The other best part of October? The birth of my newest nephew, Joseph Oliver!



2. The worst part of October was that I skipped the gym for a week and now I'm struggling to get back on the wagon.

3. For Halloween, I’ll be a witch.

4. I hope that in November I finish my scarf that I've been knitting, I get to hold Joey and Sammy a ton at Thanksgiving and I eat so much that I pop a button during Thanksgiving dinner.

5. Wifey has posted MilSpouse Secret Santa

. I  will most definitely be participating. It's my first one!

mff.

1. I want Hudson to stop chewing everything up and crying/rattling his crate door trying to escape at 3:30AM, 4:30AM and 6AM. We're a good family to him. Why can't he just be happy and non-destructive?

2. I have a hankering for pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Anyone have any good recipes?

3. I wish I had some vacation time coming up; I need a break.

4. I hope we sell more Holiday web packages. The more we sell, the bigger my 2011 bonus will be. And I could really use that to pay down my student loan. Mush! Mush!

5. I wonder if my parents will come to visit us before Christmas. I miss them and I really want to meet their new puppy, Gracie.

save the music.

Alright. Here it comes. My first plea for help (I think).  I need you to help me help my cousin, Sage, and the East Hampton High School Jazz Band. They're dying to follow in the footsteps of classes past, and go to Disney World, where they've been invited to perform! They're hurting for new instruments for the program (most are 15-20 years old), they need a means to get there and stay there and they'd love to have some fun,on top of it all. But they won't be able to do it without the help of GLEE Give A Note.

Fox, Ryan Murphy (the creator of GLEE), and the National Association for Music Education- have joined together through GLEE Give A Note to fight for struggling programs all across the country.

GLEE Give A Note will support music education by awarding a total of $1 million dollars in prize money to 73 music programs in jeopardy throughout the United States.

This cause is near and dear to my heart, especially since I had the honor of performing with my college choir twice in Disney. It was an unmatched musical experience, it helped to solidify our groups' "love of the game" and gave us a hunger for more. Can you say you've performed in Disney World AND at Carnegie Hall? I can. Keeping music in schools and keeping it extraordinary is beyond important.

The Marist College Singers in Disney World - 2006

So here it is...the easiest vote ever. You don't have to enter any information, register, explain, etc. It's just one single click of a button! AND you can vote once per day! So would you please help my cousin's high school jazz band win one of the 73 cash prizes? And don't forget to share this post!

Vote for the East Hampton High School Jazz Band RIGHT NOW!

today's mantra.

mff.

1. A word that always makes me laugh is chortle.

2. If you looked in my refrigerator right now, the oldest thing you’d find would be an old piece of cake.

3. If I were written about in the newspaper today, on the front page, the headline would say: Woman Almost Kills Her Dogs Over Knitting Nightmare.

Knitting bag was taken into the yard; scarf, yarn, needles, book and Vera Bradley bag destroyed.

4. The last movie I saw was The Bourne Identity. 

5. The best thing that happened to me in the last few weeks was the new IOS 5 update for my iPhone 4.

connecting the dots.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference..."

"...don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." -Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford University Commencement Address

gym-goer.

Well I'm back at it, after a six month reprieve. This time not as a runner, though. I never really enjoyed running, but I did enjoy that it kept me healthy, fit and kept my body looking good. So I've decided to be a gym-goer, this time around. I've gone three times a week for the last three weeks (even two days while I was on vacation). 

The gym at our hotel had a sense of humor. I didn't think it was very funny...

To be honest, so far, I'm frustrated. I've barely lost a pound, and I'm not noticing much of a difference in my body. I'm worried that I'm not pushing myself hard enough, but I don't want to push so hard that I hate going and quit. So I'm trying to keep a happy, sweaty medium.

But you know what? It is seriously hard to self-motivate, no matter how badly you want to be a skinny bitch.

Things that help me: 

• Going to Target and buying cute, new workout clothes
• Setting gym limits: I just have to get dressed and get there. If I don't want to work out by the time I get there, I can go home. I only have to workout for 30 minutes (usually I end up staying to 45). I just need to get there three days a week, and it can be any days I want. I plan when I want to go usually a week out, on our dry-erase calendar. It keeps me accountable.
• Watching Netflix movies on my iPhone while on the elliptical (*when you only watch 30 minutes at a time, you really want to know what happens, thus motivating you to return to the gym to watch more)
• Making slow-cooker meals, so that I don't feel starved and stressed when I get home. Dinner is just ready.

What helps you? What are you doing to kick your own butt into getting and staying in shape? How do you keep pushing yourself to work harder? Do you set goals? How do you reward yourself?