Wishful Wednesday: Entreprenuer

I wish I had the startup funds to build that company I have always dreamt about, and it would be my online weight loss clothes exchange program*!

I was really excited when I saw this was Kelsey's topic for Wishful Wednesday because I actually have an idea that I thought of during college. It's probably never going to happen because I have little to no interest in starting it up myself. But it's still fun to think about!

Here is the concept: When people are losing weight, large amounts specifically but anyone could use it, they are going to go through several sizes of clothes before hitting their goal. Buying tons of new clothes gets expensive, especially for people who may need suits for work. These people shouldn't have to buy cheap clothes (and basically waste money) and it's proven that if you lose weight and continue wearing larger clothes you are more likely to gain the weight back. Furthermore, wearing clothes that fit you helps build confidence, which is crucial to effective weight loss.

How it would work: Customers would pay a membership fee (and probably some kind of monthly charge) to join based on the type of clothes and amount of clothes they would be renting. We would provide basics that are expensive to buy yourself such as jeans, suits, dresses and coats. There would be a large selection of designers and of course, sizes. As you lose you could send back the larger sized clothes and get smaller. All of the inventory would be online so you can "shop" for the things you want.

It would be great to partner with weight loss companies like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers and perhaps offer a discount to those people who are also paying to join one of those programs.

So there you go, that's my idea! What do you think?

*I know it needs a better name

oh jillian

Alright people. I came home from work, took Hanna on a long walk, did Day 1 of the Shred, and made a healthy dinner. Feeling pretty good right now.


First impressions of the Shred:

-I like that it is fast but really hard. I'm a little sore already.

-I like that Jillian says things like "If 400 pound people can do this, you can." It's uplifting. And it makes you feel skinny.

-I don't like having to stare at the background "modifier" girl named "Anita." Her abs are out of control and it makes me feel like a hog. She also looks nothing like an Anita. It must be a stage name.

So, I definitely am feeling better and less blah. It has to be the endorphins.

30 days and this will be me. Only blonde and with bigger boobs.

burned out

I feel like I keep blogging about my lack of blogging lately. Sorry about that. I would love to be blogging more but I have just been so burned out.

It's bad enough that I can't stand my job already but working tons of overtime doesn't help. To explain what I do would probably take several blog posts that wouldn't make any sense if you had never worked for my company (not that you all are not smart people...it's just confusing...and lame.) It's not a hard job by means, just extremely monotonous and rigid, which gets a lot worse when you are working long hours with no down time during the day.

On Friday I came home and didn't feel like doing anything. So K and I spent most of Friday and Saturday watching Big Love Season 3 on dvd. I also kind of avoided the computer so I have tons blog reading to do.

The good news is I have off on Friday and my company is closed on Monday so it will be a 4 day weekend for me.

Also, I am going to start The Shred tonight. Hopefully the endorphins will make me feel less blah.

2010 goals

Now that my recaps are out of the way it is time to finally reveal my New Years Resolutions...or goals if you will. My attempts at resolutions in prior years have been a little half-assed so this year I am going to use my blog to keep myself accountable. I plan on posting once a month to update my progress, if you don't care just skip those post, I'm really doing it to keep track for myself! Not that any words on encouragement are not great appreciated!

In addition to making the goals I am going to list what steps I am taking to achieve them so that can be updated as the months go on.

Ready? Here we go...

1) Lose 20 pounds by the end of the year.
I have blogged about this before (and lost weight before) but I really want to change my lifestyle. No more fad dieting. I don't think that I look overweight and I have never been called overweight but I would like to weigh less and generally be more in shape...and hotter of course. This is the first time I am putting a number on what I want to lose so hopefully that will help.
Steps:
-Complete the 30 Day Shred (preferably within 30 days or a little bit longer)
-Make a nice salad for dinner at least once a week. Nice means protein and good toppings, not just a bowl of lettuce.

2)Take more pictures
This one will hopefully be the easiest to do and the hardest to track so I may end up changing it mid-year. Along with it I would like to keep my pictures more organized.
Steps:
-Ummm just take random pictures? And carry my camera more!


3)Get accepted to a Masters in Teaching program
You all know my applications are in so instead of steps I will let you know where I stand with each school as of now. (they are ranked 1, 2 and 3 based on my preference for going there)
School 1: Has my completed application, should be contacting me soon for an interview.
School 2: Is giving me some crap about letters of recommendation (they say that they can't take one because the person didn't say they "supervised" me) but since I requested 3 people send them and they only need 2 it should be all good (knock on wood.) They are going to get back to me and let me know if they have the final letter when "they are done opening the mail from over the break."
School 3: No word as of yet.


So there are my goals...here's hoping 2010 is a great year!

Sunday SUPER Funday

Even though my New Years wasn't super exciting, Sunday definitely made up for it. A very close family friend has a friend who knows Bryan Voltaggio (aka the older brother and second place winner of Top Chef) and got a reservation at Bryan's restaurant Volt. Volt is actually only about 20-30 minutes from where my parents live and since everyone in my family loves Top Chef our friends invited us to go with them. Apparently because of the show it is pretty hard to get reservations lately so we were very lucky. We opted to go for brunch since it is expensive and the brunch is very reasonable ($25 for 3 courses.)

We had a large group (12 people) so we sat in this super cute private dining room. The restaurant is in an old mansion and has very chic antique meets modern decor. As soon as we sat down we saw Bryan walk by and then he was outside messing with a hose in the "yard." Of course we were all acting like idiots, giggling every time we saw him so he probably thought we were insane. He seems like a shy guy (like he did on Top Chef.) He was also a lot shorter in "real life."

The food was AMAZING. The cocktails were AMAZING. The service was AMAZING. Seriously, it's probably my new favorite restaurant.

When we were done eating my mom's friend asked if Bryan wouldn't mind coming in and saying hi, so our waiter went to check and told us all to come back for a little tour. Bryan was in the kitchen making rolls and let us get a picture of the kitchen, we asked if he wanted to get in it and he seems surprised. Definitely shy but very nice...I told him we were all big Top Chef fans because I couldn't think of anything else to say!

Anyways, here are some pictures...

So this is the first time I posting pics of family/friends but I figured what the hell.

From left to right we have my sister, my mom, sister's boyfriend (R), me, my brother, my mom's friend who came instead of my dad (he had to go to a wake), K, the family who got the reservation (their kids and daughters boyfriend) and B.Volt (my new nickname for him since we are BFFs)

B.Volt making something


The kitchen as seen from the chef's dining room

My first course, goat cheese ravioli in a brown butter sauce with mushrooms and butternut squash. So yummy!

Later that evening K and I went to see "Avatar" in 3-d, which was a very cool movie. In terms of plot it is basically "Dances with Wolves" meets "Fern Gully" meets "Pocahontas" but still worth seeing. It's very exciting and visually stunning. Waaaay better then "Sherlock Holmes!"

New Years recap

I have always been firmly in the "New Years Eve is totally overrated camp." Especially, since for the past several years I have had to work until about 5:30 each New Years Eve. Not fun.

This year I had no expectations and was in fact looking forward to a calm and relaxing evening. My sister was having her 4th (and minor) knee surgery during the day so K and I were going to go over to my parents, eat Chinese food and possibly stop by a family friend's party.

Around 4:00 I called my parent's to check and see how Sister's surgery went, no one was answering their phones so I started to get a little worried. I did that annoying thing where you just keep calling and finally my dad answered. He told me that while my sister's surgery had gone fine and she was at home with her boyfriend, R, my mom was in the ER.

Apparently right before my sister went into surgery my mom got really sick and started throwing up uncontrollably. She said the room was spinning like she was drunk. Luckily they were at a surgical center so lots of doctors around who suggested that she go to the regular hospital ER right away. My dad took her and they left R with Sister.

It turns out Mom had some weird inner ear thing that gave her vertigo (she is fine now) but needless to say no one felt much like doing anything New Years Eve. My mom made my dad, K, R and I stop by the party then we came back and all fell asleep in the living room. I was dead to the world when the ball dropped.

The next day was nice because we all hung around the house. I helped my Mom make a big breakfast and lots of snacks during the day. We were planning on eating G&M crabcakes for dinner (aka the best crabcakes in the world) but since my mom and sister both didn't feel great we waited until Saturday.

So Saturday K and I headed back to my parents for dinner then we all went to "Sherlock Holmes" which I thought was horrible. I fell asleep, which was by far the best part. Seriously, would not recommended that movie, it was very slow and just kind of boring. It didn't help that the movie theater was about 1000 degrees.

There you have my New Years festivities, not so exciting, but it was good to just be lazy. Yesterday was very exciting...the post is coming soon!

be back soon...I promise!

I have a lot of things I want to blog about this week including a brush with a "celebrity", movies, books, New Years eve drama and resolutions BUT it's going to be super crazy at work so I don't have a lot of time!

I'm going to try and do some blogging and blog reading tonight when I get home but please forgive me if I am a slacker. I'll be back soon!