Another One Bites The Dust

When you're a creative type (read: actor, musician, dancer, writer, artist) trying to "make it", you probably live in either New York or Los Angeles, leaving your family and hometown to pursue your dreams. When faced with the reality of paying rent and bills, you realize that if you don't turn your dreams into goals, they'll stay dreams. That's not why you sacrificed being close to your loved ones, to waste your time. So you take a job as a bartender, server, hostess, receptionist, assistant, promo model, brand ambassador, or salesman, something with a bit of financial security. It's a tough career choice you've made, being thousands of miles away from your loved ones, and you look forward to those special times of year when you can see them again; holidays!

Except you forgot that working in the service industry often means working on holidays while other people have their Thanksgiving dinners, or only getting the actual holiday off of work, and one day is not enough to fly home, enjoy quality family time, and fly back. So you sacrifice further, and you plan on working through the holidays. Besides, maybe people will feel generous and tip you more when their bellies are full of turkey and their heads are full of wine. That will make it all worthwhile.

I've been through this scenario many times in the ten years since I left Michigan, and this was my plan for this year. Luckily, my college friend, Dom, and his lovely wife, Zuzana, invited my boyfriend and I to their home for Thanksgiving dinner. I made corn muffins for the first time (quite successfully, I might add) and my boyfriend made his delicious sweet potato casserole, with mini marshmallows on top. It was a fun gathering, complete with Wii tournaments and arm wrestling. I wasn't with my family, but I was among good company and good food. I was comfortable even though I wasn't home, so I ate like I was home; turkey, stuffing, sweet potato, corn muffins (plural), yogurt-dipped pretzels, an entire 2 liter of diet soda, a glass of wine, potato au gratin, cheese and crackers, more cheese, then later, at my own house, hot apple cider rum and pumpkin pie. I really went for it.

I slept like a spoiled baby that night, due to a sugar and fat fueled food coma. The next day, I had what I can only describe as a hangover. I hadn't had much to drink the night before but I sure didn't want to get out of bed. The only thing that woke me up was remembering it was my birthday, good old number 31, and I was not going to waste the day. I let myself sleep in a bit and then immediately began celebrating! I love Mexican food so I went to Chevy's. I wasn't planning on drinking but I do love margaritas. Why not? It's my birthday! I deserve more sugar and alcohol, don't I? Cut to an hour later, a full belly, and a slight headache.

When dinner time arrived, my boyfriend offered to cook a steak dinner, complete with a bottle of wine and one of my favorites, red velvet cake. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day. Once again, I fell fast asleep, with the help of my birthday food coma. Though my vacation time was officially over, I woke up the next morning dreading getting out of bed. I wasn't ready to go to my normal routine. With leftovers in the fridge, I didn't have to! I told myself I shouldn't keep indulging. On the other hand, my boyfriend worked so hard peeling all those sweet potatoes, it seemed such a waste not to eat just a bit more of that mouth-watering casserole. At 11:30 at night. Before bedtime.

Although I work all weekend nowadays, Sundays are still my "bad days" when it comes to diet. I allow myself the chance to eat the salty and sweet I usually deny myself throughout the week. Usually. But this week had been Thanksgiving and my birthday, I hadn't really denied myself anything. Maybe I'll just get donuts and coffee for the morning. I mean, it's become a tradition. Then, I didn't really have time before work to cook so I told myself it was okay to just have pizza, one bad meal is fine. After work I wasn't hungry right away and I had a conference call scheduled anyway so I could just wait to have dinner. But by the time the call ended, I was starving so fuck it, I thought, I'll just drive-thru and get fast food. I'll be good starting tomorrow. Mondays are good days for that, right?

I should have listened to my own advice, the idea I had when I started this blog; Every day is a good day to begin. I strayed from my path. Not only did I overindulge, I stopped working out. I derailed. I'm only sharing all of this to be honest. I'm not beating up on myself. I enjoyed myself! I let the kid in me live it up for the holiday weekend. And now it's time to get to work. I've lost a bit of the progress I gained during Round 1 of P90X, but it's never too late to pick up and get to work. That's what I'm going to do. Riiiiiiiiiight now.