Being 'Drea

There's this part of Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project that continues to stick with me. Well, there are quite a few parts of her book that stick with me including the cut people slack portion of the program.

Rubin talks about accepting true likes and dislikes and how that acceptance frees you up to do other things. In embracing true likes and dislikes, Rubin lists things she'll never do.

But I have to admit it -- being Gretchen and accepting my true likes and dislikes bring me a kind of sadness. I will never visit a jazz club at midnight, hang out in artists' studios, jet off to Paris for the weekend, or pack up to go fly-fishing on a spring dawn... 122

Of course, I think this is an exercise you have to be careful with because you don't want to put something out there that you might potentially want to do and then you've mentally and verbally put the kibosh on it -- not cool.

Having said that, here's my list of things that, although I might like them, will probably never happen in 'Drea's world:

Girly Girlishness

Hooping It Up Professional Basketball-Style

Replacing Rick Steves

Synchronized Swimming

Hurrying about in The Amazing Race

Frequenting Parties

Amusement Park Enthusiast

Sewing or Crocheting Competently

Mastering Trilingualism

Walking a Wire Professionally

What are some of your true likes?

...I realized that just as clearing away my nostalgic clutter and my aspirational clutter in January had opened up more space for the possessions I really use in the present, relinquishing my fantasies of what I wished I found fun allowed me more room to do the things that I did find fun. Why worry about jazz clubs when I really wanted to design my own Book of Hours? Be Gretchen. (126)

Most Recent Jones, #2

I've been digging oven fries for a minute. At times, I'll have a sweet potato and russet potato mix and, sometimes, I'll stick with the homogeneous oven fries.

These fries have chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and sea salt to make them flavorful.

Speaking of fried things, I watched The Amazing Race the other day and one of the detours was a food challenge. Apparently, the citizens of Beijing like their scorpions, starfish, larvae and grasshoppers deep fried. Jen and Kisha pretty much got eliminated from the race because Jen could hardly stomach the delicacies.

In this scene, Kisha (and Jen) try to say fried chicken, spare ribs and vegetarian noodles in Mandarin. I don't know how they pulled that one off.

Caloric Ramifications

Swimming absolutely wore me out today. I can barely hold my head up and I only swam a mere 14 laps. The water was very choppy because the lifeguard was body slamming the kiddos who were jumping all on his back.

Episode 10 of The Amazing Race, which aired on Sunday, had a detour where the contestants had to choose synchronized diving or a 400 meter swim. Jen almost completely unraveled and I was hoping that she would not be eliminated so deep in the race because of her lack of swimming skills. Tammy, who's on another team, also did a good job. She took swimming lessons before The Amazing Race started. I was the only adult who had to stick my face in the water and learn how to breathe, Tammy said.

Not Gonna Get It

I've seen quite a few recipes for black bean burgers and I finally decided to try one.

Black Bean Tostada Burgers

My burgers did not look like the ones in Shape magazine and they seemed a bit dry but they didn't taste bad. I didn't make the pico de gallo nor did I use corn tortillas or avocado. I had my own sides in mind.

The New York Times had an article on a fascinating twitterer who publishes 140 character recipes.

Take 1 Recipe, Mince, Reduce, Serve

Seeing that I'm hung up on nutrition facts, it would make me very nervous to make a recipe without knowing the caloric ramifications.

Catch a Fire

My arms felt like they were on fire this morning. I was not in pain but I could feel heat radiating in my upper arms then slowly move down a bit. That's why I play The Amazing Race and put myself on a mandatory rest period with no back-to-back swimming allowed.

What's a girl to do whose arms have been taxed? She takes it to the StairMaster, Treadmill and ArcTrainer sans handles. I like the StairMaster for the challenge but I also like the vantage point from where I've witnessed amazing feats of athleticism. I saw one woman go from the StairMaster to the Bosu ball to jumping rope to weights then start all over again. Today, I saw a woman do push-ups, go into plank mode, flex one leg at a time then go back to the beginning.

On the way home, I noticed a new McDonald's billboard. The other Mickey D's b'boards have been advertising Filet-O-Fish. Apparently, the fish is so fresh that polar bears, penguins and seagulls hover nearby. This latest billboard is equally eye-catching with its signature red, yellow and white Mickey D's straw representing the *1* in $1.00.

It's funny how the fast food joints are pushing their value meals now. I remember going to Mickey D's prior to the value meal and I would be so annoyed that it would cost more to buy single items than to get a combo meal.

I was just browsing through an old Fitness magazine tidbit called Critical Reading which said that only 21% of people regularly check food labels. This article highlighted saturated fat, sodium, fiber and sugar and said to limit added sugar to 40 grams a day which is usually the amount found in one soda. To pay $1.00 for a large soda seems like a bargain but, in the end, it's really not much of a bargain at least not for me anyway.