Purge.

I clean a little differently than most people. I've had this "difference of opinion" since I was young. I was about 8 or so and my pastor was coming over to the house to visit, so naturally, my mother told me to go clean my room. I pranced off on my merry little way to my room, turned on the radio and began cleaning my underwear drawer. I mean, my underwear and socks were mixed together! Some of my socks weren't even matched any more, the horror! I was plugging along, I had emptied my whole underwear and sock drawer and was beginning to put things back in. My day of the week underwear was now in order, white socks were with white socks, purple socks were with purple socks (I was eight, the 80s had just ended, cut me some slack alright?) and then my mom walks in. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" she shrieked. I don't remember my reply but it probably would have had the effect of "cleaning, duh!" because I couldn't understand what she was freaking out about. I proudly showed her my vast accomplishments in cleaning the underwear drawer and she said "Do you honestly think Pastor is going to look in your underwear drawer?" At the age of 8, I was perfectly contempt with cleaning my underwear drawer and didn't see her point. At 28 (ohmygosh, has it really been twenty years?), I see her point, but still find satisfaction in cleaning my underwear drawer.

I've been staying at my mom's house the past two weeks and I still have tons of stuff here. In fact, there's boxes EVERYWHERE because I had to move stuff out of one location and had no where to put there. There's a small path to my bed and cleaning and relocating those boxes would be the easiest thing. However, something larger was weighing on my mind. Under my bathroom sink. I have been thinking about it non-stop for a week and how I need to go through the things down there and clean up. So tonight I finally did it and it was ridiculous how much I threw out. There was stuff that had been there since we moved in when I was in high school. I found two shoulder pads (not matching, naturally), FIVE curling irons, all in varying sizes, a hair product for every color I have had (red, blonde, brown) and about twenty different makeup/bath product bags. I got rid of all of the above, except the curling irons. I did, however, check to make sure they all work. I don't even want to admit how much I put in the trash can or even begin to think how much money just went in the trash can, but I feel SO much better that I know it is cleaned. I feel like it's the 2010 version of my underwear drawer. Anyone is welcome to come look at my new under the bathroom sink cabinets but I'm not sure it's that exciting!

Not having to drive 6 hours to the Valley! (But is still kind of peeved that Hurricane Alex has but a severe cramp in her plans)

And waiters who can tell that you've had a bad so they go the extra mile, like bringing you a happy hour drink 10 minutes before it starts. :D

Today I thankful for five year old hands that can fit into tiny spaces that yours can't!

Sleeping with your dog and have her muzzle to get closer to you.

Impromptu family time. Watching little kids watch fireworks like it's the first time.

Traveling down roads you've never been down before. Literally, not figuratively. :D

To complain or not complain...

I've had a few rants in my head today, but instead I'm going to save them and hopefully forget about them.

Instead, today I am thankful everything I needed to buy being on sale. I went to the Adidas outlet to buy new shoes for tour. Last year, I started buying two pairs and alternating between them each day. I learned that a) my feet don't hurt as much, b) they don't smell as bad, c) they last longer! So I had my mind set on doing that as well this year. However, since I'm not getting older, I'm not so much concerned with how they look, but how they feel, how they fit and if they're actually the right type of shoe for the activity I'm doing (scary, I know!) So it took me over an hour to decide on TENNIS SHOES! Am I crazy or what? So as I was down to choosing between three pairs (out of the eight pairs that I tried on) the salesman said, you know, anything with a red sticker is an extra 25% off? My top two picks had red stickers and instantly, my choice was made! So I began shopping for tour clothes, you know, clothing that won't melt to your body when your out in the sun all day. Everything I picked up had a red sticker! I ended up paying a little over two hundred dollars for two pairs of shoes, 4 workout tank tops, 4 pairs of shorts and two long sleeve shirts. How awesome is that? I know it's a lot of money, but heck, I was buying shorts for $3.71 and that's no joke! I am so grateful that everything was on sale today! I just won't eat during tour. :D Oh wait, that's right, I get peanut butter and jelly everyday for free! ;)

A little behind...

So I'm a little behindm...but I guess you knew that. I keep thinking I have my thankful thought for today, but I don't want to pull my computer out and wait for it to load. So I'm thinking on those days, I might just type a one sentence thought and send it via text to blog. So here's a few to catch up...

I am thankful for...

06.20.10
The fact that the kids I teach make me smile. Today the front ensemble kids all wished me Happy Early Birthday and told me when they grow up, they all want to be like me. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?

06.21.10
All my family and friends who loved me enough to wish me Happy Birthday!

06.22.10
Girls Night In! Complete with girly movie(Pride and Prejuiduce), coffee and no boys!

06.23.10
Eating your ice cream outside in the warm summer night before it melts. I feel like I have conquered a small victory when this happens.

06.08.10: Becoming Friends with your Deli Person

It's no secret that I am picky when it comes to food. Personally, I don't like to think of myself as picky, I just happen to know what I like and am not afraid to ask for it. :D Remember last week when my deli person was so nice and made me an awesome grilled cheese sandwich, well she was working tonight when I went to store. She didn't notice me right off but I decided to tell her she made my week last week with the awesome sandwich and we immediately struck up a conversation. We must have talked for ten minutes, which is a long time in deli time. It was nice to make friends with her. She said remembered me from last time after I asked for pimento cheese and now she knows my name. She's a truly sweet and genuine lady and I'm looking forward to becoming a regular in the next few weeks while I'm here in Beaumont.

06.07.10 The Creators of Pandora

Today was another long drive from San Antonio to High Island, roughly 260 miles. There are times I just get tired of commercial radio. There's a limit to how many Lady Gaga you can listen to in an hour (in case you didn't know). After the third hearing of Lady Gaga, I turn to my phone and most of the time I listen to Pandora. If you don't have an account, you need to Google it and get one right this second. I was fortunate enough to figure out how to create a Broadway station! THIS is what keeps me going on long drives, songs I know by heart that I can belt out in the comfort of my car.

And I don't mean I am thankful for the creators of Pandora just because they keep me entertained. I have seriously given thought to the process of how it works and cannot even begin how much time has been invested. They have analyzed so many songs and then analyzed different aspects of these songs. Somehow the playlist that Pandora generates seems like it was created by me. Or sometimes it's even better than if I would have made it because they are slipping in new songs that I totally dig or songs that make me go "Oh yeah, I LOVE that song!" So thank you creators of Pandora for being big enough music nerds to make the rest of the music nerds in the world happy!

06.04.10. Random Kindness.

Today I am thankful for the man who held the door open when I had my hands full. Random kindness never ceases to amaze me (or make me smile).

06.03.10: Kate Potter

Today I am thankful for someone I don't even know, Kate Potter. She's an amazing yoga instructor. Actually what I love about her is she has the most calming voice ever. I walked into my hotel room today and just turned it to FitTV and Namaste Yoga was on. I used to DVR it when I had a house and practice it nightly. I immediately changed out of my work clothes and threw a towel on the floor and started yoga. I had forgotten how much I missed it. And it totally thew off whatever funk I was in because Kate Potter's voice is incredibly soothing and she always ends her program with a stretch and relaxation segment. I managed to get in about 15 minutes of yoga, but it was still enough to put me in a good mood. So I headed to the workout room in the hotel and worked out for an hour. Thank you Kate Potter!

Thankfulness

...Or How Amanda is Returning to Her Roots.

Maybe not my roots, but back in the day. You see, after I moved into my house in Gilchrist and got settled in, I decided I needed a visualization of the good things in my life. I got about twenty feet of butcher paper and hung it up in the hallway. I started a list, everyday wrote down the things I was thankful for. It really helped, especially on the bad days, to realize how much greatness I had in my life. And even on those crappy days, I was able to find something good out of it. Now finding that one good thing might have taken me all evening to figure out, but eventually, I always did.

Two things recently made me realize that I need to get back to this. One was a talk I had with my Uncle GG on Saturday. We were walking through his 125 acres and looking at the trees and plants and flowers and he would stop and say "What do you hear?," "What do you smell?" Questions that should be easily answered but I found I rarely take the time to do it that it was tough. "I hear birds" I told him, "What kind?" he replied. I had no idea. It was even to tough to answer what I saw. Flowers. Grass. He pushed, what color? What kind? He reminded me that God offers so much to us, we just have to stop long enough to appreciate it. Needless to say, I spent most of the afternoon and the evening with my Uncle GG. I learned a lot, I LISTENED a lot. It was eye opening. We appreciated the small things in life. I ate bark from a tree that made my tongue tingle, I learned different types of flowers and trees that I walk past every day, I rode a tractor to my Uncle Walton's, I watched the sunset and I experienced the night sky in all its glory. It was a refreshing day and I've decided I need to slow down and enjoy what's around me instead of taking it for granted and wanting more than I need.

And right now, just thinking about Saturday gives me such inspiration of how I want to change my life. So much that I forgot the second thing that made me want to do this. Maybe I'll remember eventually. So I am going to try and post everyday at least one thing I am thankful for that day. This will be in addition to my normal rants and sharing of crazy stories, so no worries, those will still be making appearances.

OH! I remembered the second thing. Kristen, poster on my 365 photo blog, also has her own blog called Question of the Day where she poses questions (obviously) everyday. I will admit that I'm not as great as keeping up with her blog as she is with mine, but I do read the questions everyday. Yesterday, she brought up our New Year's resolutions and I was doing very well on keeping up with them. I remembered that this was my resolution about 2 years back, so I'm bringing it back for the last half of 2010. Who says you have to start a resolution on January 1st? So here goes nothing.

06.02.10
I'm thankful for...
-my Starbucks Barista this morning who was more than happy to accommodate my special request AND gave me the broken orange cranberry scone for no charge.
-the Deli worker at HEB who also accommodated my special request and charged me $2.99 for a grilled cheese sandwich instead of the $5.99 the other sandwiches were going for.
-the little girl in the mall who reminded me that kindness to strangers isn't dead.
-all of you who read this and give me an outlet when it's too late to talk on the phone. :D

Why Shopping is a Good Motivator to Work Out

...Or How It Can Backfire and Make You Sit on Your Hotel Bed and Watch TV Instead.

I don't think it should be a surprise to any of you that I have been trying to get back into workout again, especially within the past 6 weeks. I am finally starting to notice a change. My work clothes are not fitting correctly so I went to buy new pants. I am *almost* in to the next smallest size. You know, the size "that you can squeeze yourself into but you should probably wear a long loose fitting shirt so it doesn't show every thing about your body." Yeah, that's where I am. So needless to say, I opted for that option over the "my pants are so loose they are falling down when I walk" option. Flashing your underwear is generally not considered a good sales tactic. So now, to go with my new pants, I need new work shirts but have had no luck. I decided to go to Old Navy and check them out. I used to work for Old Navy, so I know how the stores are supposed to work. I can still tell you how shirts and jeans are to be folded, how clothes are to be hung, the whole deal. I can definitely tell you that everything should be sized (which is was not at this store). Not only were the clothes not sized, they weren't even on the right hanger. So a size 2 might be on a size 16 hanger. Incredibly frustrating. I was in the store for less than 5 minutes. I hope I helped contribute to a lower sales percentage for them today. I decided to check out a few other stores because I wasn't really feeling working out tonight.

I went into American Eagle because I love their underwear (I mean, I can get personal here because there's only 4 of you that read this.) They are seriously the best, but I only buy them on sale because there's no way I'm paying 7.50 for ONE pair of underwear. Lo(!) and behold, they had them on sale 5 for $15 and that's a pretty good deal for them. Usually their sale is 5 for $25, so I was all over the underwear sale. Then I thought to myself, hmmm, I wonder if I can fit into American Eagle clothes now. You see, I'm not a huge fan of their clothes but every now and then I see something I like. In past years however, my chest area has exceeded the material that AE like to put in their garments. So I decided to be daring and grab three shirts. BOOM! They all fit! However, they all looked hideous on me. They were so oddly and angularly cut that I couldn't stand the sight of them. So I was excited yet disappointed because I kind of wanted to buy a shirt. So long story long, I ended up buying 10 pairs of underwear (what was I thinking?!?) and a tube top that was on sale for 10 bucks. I'm still not convinced that the tube top works because I tried it on with work pants, but in my head, with a pair of khaki shorts, it will look great!

So I decided, hmmm, since AE is working out for me, maybe I'll stop in one of those other stores. You know, the ones that you have no idea what the brand is but they have bright colored clothes and loud music and sale signs everywhere and you think, this has go to be a good idea. I think I actually walked into a Vanity (which I used to go in back when I was in high school because they had the best nail polish.) Anyways, I grabbed two shirts and headed to the dressing room. So I tried them on and not enough boobage material. Not even enough to fake it if I opened a few buttons and wore a tank top underneath. Total bummer. So yay for weight loss but not enough to buy a snazzy shirt. As I walked through the mall I thought, man, I just need to keep at it and after summer, I'll fit into anything I want. But I got to my hotel room and the bed seemed real comfy. I pondered working out. And then I got hungry, but I still thought about working out. Then I was STARVING so I had to eat. And I can't workout after I eat. So I just looked up workouts online for the future. Does that count at all?

What's the point of this story? I don't know. I just felt compelled to tell you all that:

a)I spent thirty dollars on ten pairs of underwear
b)I can wear American Eagle stuff but it's all made crazy and
c)I should stop shopping in clothing stores for girls 10 years younger than me because it's just depressing.

I guess I'm a little talkative tonight. Thanks for hanging in.

Can I Tell You How Much I Have a Love/Hate Relationship with "He's Just Not That Into You?"

...Or "Why Amanda Should Stop Watching This Movie When She's Conflicted About Boys."

I'm a sucker for this movie. It's one of those that you have to watch when it is on TV. However, I get extremely upset with the Justin Long and the girl with the short hair. He spends the whole freaking movie telling her that she's the rule not the exception of guys not being "into her." I mean, isn't that what the whole movie is about? If a guy is truly interested in you, then he'll go for it. He'll call or see you or whatever it is. That's what I start believing. And then, after all the turning down and avoiding her, boom, he just likes her. LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. How can the movie preach that and then make her the exception? Talk about sending mixed signals when dating, this movie is sending me mixed signals! So am I supposed to wait for the guy to call or am I supposed to move on? I mean, two out of the four girls were the exception in the movie. That means, mathematically speaking, there's a 50% chance that he could really be into you. I think they should either do a remake that really conveys the point that "He's Just Not That into You" or retitle the movie to "He's Just Not That Into You...But Maybe He Is."

Is He Gay or European?

(perhaps substitute metro Hispanic for European)
...or Why Amanda Doesn't Understand if her gym instructor is passive-agressively hitting on her or not?

I have decided to get back on the workout band wagon again. I know you're probably sick of hearing that. But I'm making good progress. I'm even driving 20 miles one way to go workout and get all 37 dollars worth of my gym membership! THAT'S dedication. So since I'm driving all that way, I figure I better get my workout in. Yesterday I went and ran and then did a class called BodyPump. Basically it's weightlifting in a class setting. Well the instructor was a guy, which is not normal, but cool. He was super energetic and I got a REALLY good workout because he was a motivator and I found it easy easier to push myself harder because of him. I always stand in the back because unless it's a dance class that I've been to a few times, I don't like to be in front. I hate the thought of people watching my rear end while doing squats. Gross. It's about halfway through the class, I'm in the back, sweating profusely, trying to hide my grunts as I think to myself "Did I put on too much weight or am I just being a baby?" and I notice that the instructor is looking at me. Like ALL THE TIME. I start thinking to myself, "Am I doing something wrong?" I check my posture in both mirrors. "I *seem* to be doing what everyone else is doing...Why is he still looking at me?" "Are my pants falling down?" Check the mirror again, nope. "WHAT THE HECK!? Why is he still looking at me?!" I scream in my head. So I just chalk it up to the fact that I suck and keep thinking these thoughts for next thirty minutes. I figure it's that or he thinks I'm hot. Yeah, I probably wasn't doing my technique right I'm sure.

Fast forward to today. I drive back to the gym, decide I'm gonna be a haas and go to TWO cardio classes in a row. The first one is my favorite, BodyJam, which is basically a hip hop/modern/sometimes Latin dance class. I love it!!! Not to brag, but I'm a pretty good dancer so even though I only go to classes every once in a while, I'm still able to get the choreography. It usually gets my heart rate up pretty decently but I don't mind it because I love dancing. So I take my spot to the side, but closer to the front because I can't stand being behind the people without rhythm. The same guy from the class yesterday was teaching. I thought it would be a good class because of his energy and motivation. It was! I got my butt kicked and he wasn't blatantly staring at me this time. Class ends. I hydrate like a good workout person should and wait for the next class to begin. Well Mr. Instructor starts walking towards the door and instead comes over to me. He asks if I have ever taken this class before and I tell him I've taken the class before but never done this session, I never come to this gym, blah blah. He then proceeds me to tell me that I was "tearing it up" during class and then says, "You were also in BodyPump yesterday right?" Uh, yes, that was me you wouldn't stop looking at for the last thirty minutes of class. Yes, I replied. He then personally invited me to another class tomorrow that he will be attending and told me to make sure that I come back to his BodyPump class tomorrow.

I leave the gym feeling ESTASTIC! I always think I can dance but to have someone tell me that just makes me feel so awesome. But I've been a member of Gold's Gym for a loooooong time. At least 4 years. Never EVER in that time have I had an instructor come up, introduce them self to me and then tell me how great I am. Maybe I was an exceptional dancer (highly likely :D) and he just felt moved to talk to me. But I am still confused (hence the title). I can't tell if he's gay or an energetic guy who likes working out and can dance and wears thick black framed glasses. Maybe I'll solve the mystery by the end of the week.

My bank is the best bank ever. They have the food network playing in the lobby! I love it!

You know you're really serious about losing weight when you go to Wings N More and order a grilled chicken sandwich. *sigh*

And can I tell you how excited I am about sleeping in a queen size bed with my bedroom window slightly cracked! It's the little things in life!

First Update in a Long Time

...or why I'm resisting updating facebook every five minutes.

I'm trying not to be THAT person who updates facebook ALL the time. There are some people who update consistently about the most mundane things and I think "REALLY, You're updating again?!" But at the same time, I have short thoughts that I'm pretty sure everyone shares, like tonight I would have liked to post, "Amanda Reynolds is glad that after working out and showering that her hair decided to dry PERFECTLY when she has no where to go but bed. Awesome." But I didn't because how many people really care about my hair? I guess you do because you're still reading this! Ha!

I've really fallen behind on blogging in general. My food blog hasn't been updated at all this year (yikes!) and obviously this one and I've been not uploading my photos as recently on my picture blog. But I've decided to put my food blog on hold until I can get a kitchen and cook on a regular basis. So don't expect that to be updated anytime soon. So I might turn this to more of my facebook-type random musings if you guys don't mind. And then again, I just might not update for another 3 months. ;)

Alone...

Have you ever been out late at night and there's no sounds. No neighbors busying themselves, no TVs, no radios, no cars on the road. Only the sound of the wind. The trees rustling. The last leaf falling and hitting the ground. I can't decide if I enjoy this feeling or not.