Last wednesday began HORRIBLY. I would write about it but the entire thing was so horrifying I cant bear to write it down. I’ll leave it at this…the cat got sick, the dog “helped” me clean up the cat’s sickness, then the dog got sick, AND then the dog got sick from the other end with the cat’s sickness. Needless to say I almost got sick SEVERAL times. The best part was the whole diabocle happened in an hours time!

Thennnn two days later the cat started acting WEIRD. We were all laying on the couch together Friday night when she rolled over and then “yowled” in pain. Because she is a Manx, she NEVER meows. She’ll chirp when she brings me her mouse to play fetch or growl at the dogs when they’re bugging her but meowing is very rare. Obviously hearing her “yell” was a bit surprising. It continued throughout the night when she’d move a certain way or if I petted her. She finally secluded herself under the couch instead of sleeping with me…which is VERY rare. When I tried press on her stomach/back to see where was making her hurt, she decided instead to punch me in the mouth..with her claw. It left a nice cut in my lip which bled and bled and bled. By saturday night she was refusing to eat so I knew I needed to get her into the emergency vet. HUNDREDS of dollars later…and I find out my dumb cat is full of shit…literally. She stayed overnight to get enemas and rehydrated which made me feel HORRIBLE because I dont know how I missed how little she had been going.

art i made for her while we waited for the vet.

The poor thing came home Sunday morning still obviously uncomfortable. She spent half the day curled in her litter box…

and the other half stuffed in her bed with all her fat hanging out.

I was starting to freak out that she was still “stopped up” but she FINALLY pooped yesterday morning! She is back to her loving self and I have been hugging her non-stop because I hated seeing her so miserable.

THEN I came home from work yesterday to find that my freezer had stopped working. The fridge soon followed so I spent this morning throwing away EVERYTHING. It sucks to throw away so much wasted food. While my landlord is going to go ahead and buy a new fridge/freezer…it wont be here until next week. FML.

Work-wise, I am a bit pissy lately…in the past week I have had SIX no-shows!!!!!!!! No bueno. If you are late or forgot….just call! Please don’t leave me sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting for you.

And to top it all of my shin HURTS. I’ve been dealing with shin splints on my right inside shin off and on since the 10k at the beginning of May. Some days its tight and hurts after I run & some days it’s almost perfect without any pain.  I did 5 miles with Katie at the 3rd battlefield trails and had a WONDERFUL run but my shins did feel tight after the 3rd mile. The next day it was still tight so I iced a few times and tried some DMSO cream. Tuesday I woke up and it HURT. It hurts again today so I’m thinking about taking the week off from running. One of the massage therapists worked on it and felt some fluid near my knee so I dont even know what’s going on. Its just frustrating because its GORGEOUS out and all I want is to run.

If I could have anything, I would be able to run 5-6 days a week without getting injured. I would love to run 4 days a week…but its not meant to be for me right now, I guess.

There was one wonderful day this week…my dear friend Micah and her little one, Pru decided to make a day trip to come visit me on Monday. Micah and I met my sophmore year at Guilford College where we became fast friends. I dont get to see her very often but she means the world to me and to have a whole day with her was SUCH a treat!

We had a lovely day together. We took Pru to the park to play, then went to my favorite Thai restaurant for lunch

She looks JUST like a little kewpie doll!

my most favorite: panang curry with tofu and veggies.<3333

After lunch we walked to Kimberly’s to look at super cute kid stuff, then went to Harvest Moon Natural Foods to shop for goodies, stopped for coffee/chatting at Daily Grind, and then played at Stonewall Jackson’s house

beautiful ladies!

It was a wonderful day.

Hopefully the next 7 days will be less exciting more boring and without crisis or animal drama…

xoxox!

Tonight’s adventure was Quinoa Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms.

AMAZING! HUGE thanks to Kate who tweeted about her mom making this.

My take on the recipe:

-preheat oven to 350

-cook quinoa. I used this which is delicious all by itself!

-microwave sweet potato and cut up into cubes.

-Hollow out your mushrooms. Put the mushroom meat aside for the stuffing.

-Sauté diced red onion, mushroom meat, diced red peppers and minced garlic in olive oil. (Other ideas include carrots, finely diced broccoli, zucchini, and squash.)

-Add sweet potato, 1/4 cup of crumbled goat cheese, and quinoa to the sautéed vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste

-Fill mushrooms with the quinoa/vegetable mix, and top with more goat cheese.

-Place in a pan and put in the oven. Bake for 25 min or until cheese starts to brown.

The different flavors were awesome together. Every bite was a little different and equally delicious as the last.

Suggestions for other recipes to try?

What a crazy few days.

Work has been SLAMMED. It was, hands down, my best week to date since I started as an esthetician. I can’t wait for my paycheck next week! The downside to being so slammed is that I come home and am exhausted from work/working out every day last week. Thus no blogging for the past few days.

I was able to muster enough energy to go Saturday night to watch the UFC fights with some friends. It  was a very fun night; we laughed until we cried, ate some horrible buffalo wings, and some drunk girl tried to bite me. Yes, bite me. The only explanation I have is that she was drunk and reved up into looking for violence thanks to the fights. We left after that.

Sunday, I ran my 3rd 5k at the Delaplane Strawberry Festival. Its a cross country course out at Sky Meadows State Park and boy, did it kick my ass. It starts out on a paved road then veers off into the woods/cow fields. We ran through mud, cow patties, over a creek, gravel roads…and LOTS of hills. My pace was ALL OVER the place!!! My first mile was 9:27, my second was 11:21, my third was 12:27, and the last .1 was a 9:47 pace. The  3rd mile was almost all uphill, you’d get to the top of one hill only to see another in front of you. On top of that it was at least 75 degrees out there. Needless to say I did a very slow 34:42. But who cares because it was SUCH a beautiful course and so neat to run somewhere SO different (I live downtown so almost all my runs are on sidewalks, in the park, or on the road)

The road the race started and ended on.

what a gorgeous day…and view!

Me & my BFF Katie. This is our third 5k together…its crazy to think a year and half ago we could barely run 1 minute! We always run a little bit together and then Katie goes out on her own as she is MUCH faster than me.

Katie and I after the race. She of course looks GORGEOUS and I look like a tomato.

Despite it being a very difficult course, Katie and her husband BOTH won 3rd place for their age groups. Even cooler, this was the first race they have ever run together!

The festival had a bunch of craft booths, food, music, a petting zoo, and a bunch of other neat odds and ends.

Strawberry stand.

Matt and I shared a delicious strawberry sundae after the race.

Kodak made a new friend. I think both of them were wondering if the other was a dog.

Playing ball and charming everyone in sight.

SLURP!

Kodak was such a trooper. It was VERY warm out and he only started to really get tired as we were leaving. Here he is showing us where we should go to cool down.

I found the cutest halter for Roxy from this vendor. (Kodak’s argyle halter is also from her)

Here she is modeling her new cupcake halter:

The giant batch of strawberries I bought!

To celebrate an awesome race, I made an extra awesome smoothie:

1 cup kale

6 BIG strawberries

1 cup frozen pineapple

1/2 cup frozen mango

1 cup vanilla ultra soy milk

It was soooooo delicious.

Today Matt ran the Loudon Street Mile and freakin’ dominated! He ran a 4:51 mile this year, shaving off 11 seconds from last year! He also won 3rd in his age group AND was 16th overall. I am very very proud of him.

Walking home, I was struck with how BEAUTIFUL it is here.

After the race, we went to the grocery store and then to Matt’s dad’s for a cook out.

I thought this “burger” cake would be an excellent addition to the cookout…but Matt said no.

Matt snuggling his nephew.

After the cookout we went to the Winchester National Cemetary to take photos.

Its been a really nice weekend. If only we had had another day…it all feels like it flew by.

What did you do???

….ok you can stop your applause.

Well I had plans to wake up for 5:30 am spin class but my body had other plans. I woke up at 3 and barfed twice. Let me just says, throwing up kale…is freaking disgusting. Needless to say I was NOT in the mood to go torture myself two and half hours later. I let the ol’ belly settle and decided to do yoga on my comcast on demand instead (it’s pretty much all ashtanga Yoga which I like much more than hatha or bikram) HOLY GUACAMOLE…that was no joke. At times in certain poses, my heartrate was in the 140 and 150s. I tried to do some of the level 2 moves but stuck mostly with the easier ones since I am no yogi. I will definitely be doing this one again! Doing it made me see how unflexible and unbalanced I am.

At least I can pretend to look like a yogi standing up. Any kind of pose with leg lifting and I look like cripple…

My day was looooong and boring.

It consisted of this:

sitting outside of work trying to freckle my legs.

It was a very dull day with only one client. Wednesdays are always slow…today was no exception.

I like wearing my hair like this…no muss no fuss.

After work, I was bored and decided to bake!

How cute are these measuring cups my mom got me for xmas???!?!?!

SO SO SO CUTE! I looooved russian dolls as a little kid!

These were NOT the meringues I dreamed they would be. The vanilla was way too strong in my opinion. Perhaps its for the best because if they tasted like these I would eat all of them. The grocery store doesnt have anymore of those meringues and I am trying to just accept it…but my addiction is strong.

After trying my meringues and being annoyed by their non-deliciousness, I watered the garden since today is the first day it hasn’t rained and being in direct sunlight, a lot of them get pissy very easily.

Any ideas what kind of annuals I should plant for the summer once my  spring annuals go RIP on me????

After we tended to the garden, Roxy and I went for a walk.

I run by these honeysuckle a lot and I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing they smell. The smells of summer always floor me. This morning I went outside and it was the perfect mix of cut grass and flowers and warm weather. Its hard to describe but Im sure you get the idea.

Dinner was easy: Poblano, Black Bean, and  Mango Quesdillas.

YUM!

Grateful 5:

1. Not being busy at work makes me appreciate the days I am busy. My slow days are getting fewer and fewer but it always reminds me that when I am crazy-ass busy with no time for lunch…at least I am busy!

2. Having an awesome chiropractor. He’s so positive, so sweet, and always giving me great advice about any number of things. We had a discussion about me using soymilk in my green smoothies…and as usual, I will be following his advice and switching to just hemp milk with whey powder.

3. I get to run tomorrow…Im excited!

4.  Getting back some $$$ from my taxes.

5. Finding  balance/moderation in my food journaling and how seriously I take it.

Today was a good day. I woke up thanks to my trusty 4-legged alarm, fiddled around online for awhile (and posted this!), and got down to business…doing an easy 3 miler. This of course turned out to be NOT easy at all. Im not sure what my deal was but it was a struggle.  I’m going to blame the humidity, it takes a lot out of you. Luckily I still had enough energy to bust out 3/4 of Jackie Warner’s Power Circuit Training (legs/booty/chest/arms/back)

My goal is to do something active for at least 30 minutes (running 3x/doing a dvd, spinning, cardio 3x) 6 days a week. I am DETERMINED to actually feel decent in my bathing suit this year. I’ve made the decision to also keep a food diary and track my caloric intake.  Im simply just trying to get in my 5-9 servings of veggies, at least 6 glasses of water, at least 60 grams of protein, and trying to watch my fats (minus things like avocado, olive oil, nuts) plus hopefully burn more calories than I consume. So far so good. I know it starts to go in a direction I don’t like…I’ll quit. Simple as that.

Awesome busy work day (waxing/facial/makeup/makeup/waxing….go gen go!) followed by an even more awesome dinner.

Black bean burger with half an avocado and sweet potato fries with greek yogurt garlic-basil dipping sauce.

Get in my belly!

I can’t believe its almost June…where did May go?

What did YOU eat for dinner?

Grateful 5:

1. Warm weather. It was so cold last week and now its great (albeit a little humid)

2. Being busy at work..and having wonderful clients. I truly enjoy seeing them every month.

3. Having curly hair. I HATED my curls when they suddenly appeared in 6th grade. Its been a longggg process…but I love that I can wear my hair so many ways. Its so nice to shower, scrunch in some gel, and goooooo! The result is really pretty spiral curls.

4. athletic tape. My arch of my right foot and ankle feel wonky today… taping it  immediately made a difference.

5. Making good choices that make my body happy.

ANWAYS…Im trying it again.

The last time I wrote here I was training for my first half marathon. I DID IT! Yes…lil’ ol me ,the laziest girl in the world….ran 13.1 miles.

For the complete story go here. It was one of the most AMAZING days of my life. I couldn’t have asked for a better first race. The weather was perfect, the scenery was picture-perfect, and the fact that I went from barely running a mile in November of 09 thanks to my hip injury to running a half 5 months later…well, I think that’s pretty freaking cool.

Since then (its been a little over a month) I did my first 10k, got shin splints, am slowly getting better, and  hoping to do my fist trail 5k on Sunday. I truly love running. I miss it when I take time off and I am astounded at how centered I feel when it’s a part of my routine. I am so new to it still and have a lot to learn but it makes me so genuinely happy to just have the ability to do something so simple that is so good for me physically and mentally.

a very sweaty genevieve after a 4 miles run in 88% humidity. sexy!

In other news, I have a garden!

I started one last fall after I moved into my new apartment but it really wasnt too interesting because I was new to it al. All I can say is that thanks to some hard work and some help from my mom, it is looking SPECTACULAR!

my garden in all its glory!

lovely little stonecrops!

the herb corner: so far I have rosemary, chives, cilantro, basil, and  a few tomato plants.

the HUGE lavender plant left behind by the previous occupants. I love it!

cobweb hen&chicks. I love this little cactus!

cacti…with my mint pot in the background.

front porch.

I love coming home and seeing what looks different, whats growing, whats dying. Its such a beautiful burst of color.

I have a new addiction….green smoothies.

The love affair began after reading countless blogs about them. I am a spinach fan through and through but salads rarely fill me up so throwing spinach in an awesome smoothie seemed like it could work!

I call this one “berry good morning!”

(garnished with fresh mint from my garden)

-2 cups raw spinach
-1 small banana
-1 cup frozen berries (rasberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries)
-1 cup hemp milk (great source for omega 3s&6s)
-1 tbsp agave nectar

“choco-berry surprise”

-1 cup spinach
-1 cup kale
-1 cup frozen berries
-1 small banana
-1 cup hemp milk
-1 scoop chocalate amazing grass
-a little agave to cover the kale taste (blech)

“maui morning”

-2 cup spinach
-1 cup frozen mango
-1/2 cup frozen pineapple
-1 cup vanilla soy milk (for protein!)
-1 small banana
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I did this one this morning and it was DELISH.

Who knew you could get 5 servings of fruits and veggies before 10 am?!?

Have no fear, I am still a Sonic loving machine with a love for all things fried…but by and large, my diet is really starting to change (and I like it)

Im eating fresh foods a lot, packing my own meals, and rarely getting fast food/take out. The only frozen meal I’ve had lately is a black bean veggie burger from Gardenburger that I like to put fresh avocado on.

My boy and my weenies are all well too!

we went on a 2 mile walk around one of the civil war battlefieds last sunday. the weenies LOVED it.

and a few more random pictures…

sooo sleepy.

devious creatures.

my little love.

my constant.

cleanin’ up good at a friends wedding.

Genevieve…over and out!

grateful 5:

-1. I took Roxy to the vet for a spot on her belly. They say most likely it is benign and nothing to worry over. I blame being a worry-wart and skincare dork.

-2. the gorgeous weather lately. i haven’t turned on my ac yet and its perfect with just the overhead fans going.

-3. avocados are PERFECT right now. I love me a good avocado.

-4. Matt let me sleep in this morning…it was divine.

-5. being alive.

]]> http://www.shipswithnosails.com/?feed=rss2&p=108 8 http://www.shipswithnosails.com/?p=105 http://www.shipswithnosails.com/?p=105#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:12:17 +0000 admin http://shipswithnosails.com/?p=105 I weighed myself for the first time since Thanksgiving. The number was once again NOT what I imagined it would be and while initially VERY disappointed and ashamed..I realized maybe numbers REALLY don’t matter that fucking much. One would assume after over a decade of eating disorder therapy, groups, nutritionists, books, etc etc etc this would be an easy pill to swallow but it has never been easy. For someone who loathes math so much, I give numbers the utmost importance: the “right” weight, the “right” size, the “right” amount of calories/fat/protein, she/he ate this so I ate that, blahfreakinblah.
I know I look better than I did in November irregardless of how much I have lost (or not lost in this case). I know I am in better shape. My clothes fit so much better and people tell me that I look good/smaller. Its not my ideal size/weight and I know I can look leaner and would like to…but maybe a number is just that…a number.
It’s a thought and just a thought but I am giving it more “weight” than I ever have before.

When will I stop shoving things down in hopes of it just not mattering or doubting the validity of my feelings? When will I stop being so terrified of being left behind? Will I ever have the ability to stand my ground when my view is challenged?

Why do I just tuck my tail between my legs and sing this song?

how sick of me
must you be
by now
while you're standing just outside
of what your pride will allow
always reaching into yourself
to find a new way to understand me
when i'm sure that there's no one else
in the world
who could withstand me

I wish it were morning and I could just run and run and run until my head felt less cloudy and my dumb heart didnt frustrate me so.

This weekend we got ROCKED by a snowstorm like no other. I havent seen snow like this since I was in 5th grade or 6th grade! They told us it would hit Friday morning with heavier snow later in the day anddd it pretty much didn’t stop until maybe 3 or 4 Saturday. Unfortunately we are supposed to get MORE snow tomorrow…like 10 inches possibly. UGH.

I am so sick of the snow.

Without further adieu I present to you the adventures of Snowpocalypse 2010:

Friday the snow started almost exactly at 9. I went to work and had one client for two services. I quickly high-tailed it out of there around noon as I wanted to get home before the real fun began (plus Virginia drivers can’t drive in snow…myself included) At home I fed the cat three million scoops of food and grabbed Roxy plus a packed bag in order to get to Matts.

Roxy and I made a pit stop at Sonic for lunch for Matt& I. Roxy looks so thrilled in her Where’s Waldo sweater…

She sneezed. I captured the fabulous face.

Sonic was fabulous…I expected nothing less.
We took the dogs out later in the afternoon to play outside.

Kodak in his jacket which actually was an awesome buy at Walmart. It kept him dry all weekend whenever he went out in the snow. Plus he looks killer in it.

Trudge trudge trudge.

Roxy was not a fan of this snow from the very beginning.

This is Kodak’s ball i.e. his crack.

He will do just about anything for a ball. He seriously will play fetch until he is almost falling asleep standing up. Even cuter, is that he doesn’t just play ball like a normal dog…he plays soccer. You throw the ball, he runs at lightening speed to get it, and after fetching it then drops it, and either noses the ball and/or kicks the ball BACK TO YOU. Inside he will actually grab things (blankets, socks, pant legs) and hold said item while he kicks the ball up and down the hallway. Matt needs to make a video because it’s the funniest thing I have ever seen. It’s kind of insane and I don’t know how he decided this was the way to play ball but it’s how he does it.

I like him.

Most of the time…I think he likes me too

Also I know you are jealous of my fancy houndstooth elmer fudd hat….

and my shitty rainboots which make for the WORST snowboots ever. My feet were FREEZING this weekend!

The snow really got going a little later on Friday afternoon and that was the end of that…by the 9 or 10 the news said we were in full-force blizzard conditions. GROSS.

We zonked out on the couch until 6 am the dogs decided it was time to WAKE UP and Matt went out to begin shoveling. The snow was still going with no signs of stopping.

Matt asked for breakfast so I made blueberry pancakes with eggs. One of the few easy things I can make…haha.

The world outside.

Matt is awesome and shoveled 9 times from Friday to Sunday. This was smart because a) it kept him from going stir-crazy and gave him some exercise since he couldn’t run and b) meant there wasn’t 2 feet of snow to have to shovel once the snow stopped.

Matt also dug tunnels for the dogs!!!! Kodak OBVIOUSLY played with his ball in them.

While Matt shoveled every other hour, me and the puppies did a lot of this:

Roxy makes a good pillow apparently.

I love these two little dogs more than I could possibly describe.

After some good napping Matt shoveled some more and we measured the snow. We used Matt’s car since the ground wasn’t very accurate due to snow we had previously gotten Tuesday (seriously we have had so much snow this winter)

That, my friends, is A LOT of snow.

Mr. Lofton’s Opus.

Roxy trying to swim through the snow (which I may or may not have plopped her in….)

The snow FINALLY ended later than afternoon and we even got a bit of sun as well.

Sunday was all about waiting for the snow plow. Matt left for a 10 mile run and I sat around, played online, dreamed of leaving the house, and fed my new addiction that I discovered during the snow storm…Toddlers and Tiarras. Pure TV GOLD!

I also discovered that in a pinch, fake vanilla lattes are ALMOST as good as real coffee. Almost.

Around 4 the snowplow finally came and Matt and I left the snowy confines of his house to venture out into the real world.

Now for the most embarrassing part of the weekend…Around 7 I started to worry about my cat who was at my apartment still. I decided to jump in my car, drive the 2 miles over, check on her, and then come back to watch the Superbowl with Matt. I got back to my place fine, enjoyed the angry death glare of the cat while I fed her, and then got back in my car to go back. Because one of the main roads was blocked off I INGENIOUSLY decided to take a side road UP A HILL to take a back route I go sometimes.  I might mention that this back route takes you through a pretty yucky part of town. While driving up the one way hill, a girl was walking along and I turned my wheel slightly to make sure she had enough room. BAD BAD BAD IDEA.

I got stuck.

I tried going forward while turning the wheel. I tried reversing while turning the wheel. I tried going straight. I tried everything. Meanwhile people are trudging by with their 40s and giving me weird looks and cars are starting to wait behind me.

I call Matt slightly panicking and hoping he will have some magic recipe to tell me how to get unstuck FAST. Unfortnately there is no recipe and with a sigh he told me to wait and he would be there. Being the brilliant driver that I am, I decided to turn off the car (I cannot tell you why I decided to do this). When I tried to turn in back on to once again try to move the car a single inch….

THE BATTERY DIED.

WTF!?!?!?!!?!?!!

Of all the days and times to die, my battery chooses this time? Of course it would…

because it’s me and stuff like this ALWAYS happens to me.

I was in full-on freakout mode by now.

Matt came and was obviously exasperated by the turn of events. Luckily thanks to his car knowledge, some cables I kept in the back of my car, and some fine young gentlemen who decided to stop watching from the porches and help…my car got restarted and moved out of the snow I was stuck in.

I would like to use this space to thank Matt who left the warm couch to help me and ate it hard on the ice while doing so. Thank you baby!

The rest of the evening was THANKFULLY uneventful. We made some nachos and watched the superbowl (I read and snuggled Kodak…and then fell asleep.)

This morning I came back home with Roxy and began the song and dance called “I dont wanna run but I know I have to”. My 4 miler should have happened on Sunday but I didn’t feel safe running on porrly plowed roads and decided to give it a day. The half marathon is 2 months away and every day I skip a run is a day wasted. So despite my EXTREME reluctance to go out and do it…I went out and did it.

To feel more hardcore, I busted out my “miss new booty” running tights.

It was a joyless 4.2 miles…but the feeling of accomplishment once I got to the end was awesome. I started the day thinking I wouldn’t even run at all…and yet somehow found it in myself to run longer than I have in over half a year IN THE SNOW which sucks in my opinion.

Andddd just to reiterate how much FREAKING snow we got…here’s a shot of the porch of my bedroom:

Theres so much snow Roxy cant even see over it all. Its just this massive snow wall as soon as you open the door!

I suppose I better learn to like it because they’re calling for 1-3 inches tomorrow with 5-8 inches tomorrow night…and more damn snow Wednesday. FML.

Thank goodness for netflix and the ability to watch every criminal intent known to man on my instant queue while I hole up in my apartment during the snowpocalypse part 2!

My 5 gratefuls for the past few days:

1. Having power.  A lot of people lost it and I cannot imagine how much that sucked.

2. Matt and his ability to put up with my antics.

3. Puppy snuggles.

4. That my car actually started back up and didn’t have to get towed.

5. Enjoying today with my friend Kate.

My grateful 5:

1. Treadmills. I don’t like treadmills and I never will…but they are a wonderful thing to have when it’s too snowy to run or too dark. Realistically I COULD have run in the snow today but it really doesn’t feel good in my opinion. So I went to the gym after work and did 2 looooooooong borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring miles on the dreadmill. It was rather dreadful but it got done and thats what matters!

2.Amy’s Organic Meals. I know eating a frozen meal makes me some kind of traitor to what most of my friends stand for but gosh dang it, sometimes I just do NOT feel like cooking and you can only eat cereal for dinner so often.

Thank you Amy…whoever you are.

3. Weekends with Matt and the weenies. So simple and yet everything I need.

4. Getting my eyebrows waxed. I always feel so much more manicured after I get them done.

5. The ability to say no to the STRONG craving I have inside of me to go get a chocolate milkshake RIGHT NOW!!!! I want one so bad…why?!?!?!?!!?