You love me, You really love me!

So not only are you helping me reach my goal of 100 followers, you are gracing me with awards (and such humbling compliments)!  The lovely Ms. Ali has give me the Sugar Doll award.

The rules are as follows: 
1. Thank the recipient: Ali, thank you so much -- especially for what you said about me (that my posts are "brilliant and so honest"  *blushes*)
2. Link back to the giver:  http://thescalessaywhat.blogspot.com/
3. Reveal 10 things about me.
4. Pass along to 3 other bloggers.

I'm going to start with #4.  I'm going to post some blogs outside the normal blog hop of dieters that I think are fantastic.  I don't think they follow my blog, but well... they should (hahaha):

Always Order Dessert -- Alejandra posts some beautiful recipies, and some are very health-forward. Some not so much.  But i love the way she plays with ingredients.

Closet Cooking -- Kevin from canada also has some great recipies.  Think about how you can make healthier modifications to what he makes. 

Pinch My Salt -- More beautiful recipies and photos from Nicole's blog.

10 things about me:

1. I have a degree in English with minors and creative writing and biological anthropology.  If I had taken a few classes in music theory, I could have gone for a vocal performance minor as well. 

While I was at GW, I was very lucky to take a writing class (among many others) with New Yorker essayist, Suzannah Lessard.  I've always known I was a writer, and that I had something to say, but I was never good with fiction, and my poetry was dismal at best.  When I started to write for Suzannah, she pulled me aside one day and said "If you didn't know before, I wanted to tell you now in an unequivocal manner:  you are an essayist."  I took her word for it and never looked back.

GW's grades topped out at As, but she frequently put A+ at the top of my pages, because I was so willing to put my heart and opinion on the page. 

2.  I love to volunteer at my local animal shelter (and will hopefully have more time to do it in the near future). 

Because of the shelter's reputation as one of the best shelters on the East coast (and perhaps even the country) and its affiliation with the Humane Society, we often get some of the worst case animals -- from puppy mills, from hoarding situations, from abuse situations, and from dog-fighting cases (we had 11 of Michael Vick's dogs). 

So not only do I get to play with dogs and cats, I get to make a real difference in their lives.  What they don't get is that they're making a real difference in mine.  It is one of the most humbling situations when an animal that has been mistreated and cast aside chooses me to lay their had on, or to trust me to brush out their matted hair.  Their ability to forgive is something that I find lacking from humanity sometimes.

3. I just signed up for Twitter (something I said I'd never do) with encouragement from my neighbor Betsy. You can follow me @FatGirlvsWorld.  But don't worry -- the majority of my content will be here.

4.  I love my job. I know it's weird to include that, but I know so many people that hate their job. I'm a legal secretary.  I work for 2 partners and 1 associate in a large international firm.  In regards to weight loss, they are ALL awesome.  They didn't complain too much when I stopped putting out a candy dish.  They let me take my hour (+10 minutes) so I can get a good run in during lunch.  They are all just faboo.  I love the work too.  I used to be a bartender/waitress.  Standing on my feet for 12 hour shifts SUCKED (but was good for cardio burn and going up stairs/butt toning).  I get to sit down and use my brain in this job.

5. I have two cats that are the loves of my life.  (I know, I'm cat lady...)
On the left is Spiked Punch (Spike).  He's 8 and a sexy mansycat.  He is a regular Catsanova.  He can read my moods and is a fantastic predictor of my health.  He loves the smell of stinky shoes.

On the right is Jack Daniels (Jack, or Woozle).  He's a cuddlebug.  He goes nuts for the Furminator to the point he has to be rationed a certain amount of time with it or he'd go bald.  He likes to take self-portraits of himself using my webcam.

6.  I am an autobiophotoblographer.  I like to take pictures of my life to post on my blog to document what I've been up to.  Autobiophotoblographer is just an easier way to say it.  I always have my camera on me.  I like taking pictures of places I've been, partners in crime, interesting sights, animals, food that I've eaten, concerts, etc..  You name it, I've photographed it.  Thank goodness for digital photography or I'd be quite poor.  My mom was an amateur photographer as well.

7.  I'm not afraid of heights, but I'm afraid of falling.  I hate it when people try to lift me.  I don't like going on hikes that have me shimmying across tiny rock ledges.  I don't like wire bridges.  But give me enough time to calm down and I can do it.  Needles, on the other hand, are insurmountable thus far (though I didn't faint/cry/ or vomit for either of the 2 epidurals I had).

8.  Speaking of epidurals... I don't know whether I want to have kids or not.  Growing up I thought I did, but more recently I just don't feel the biological imperative to do so.  But then again, when I was 8, I thought I'd be 28 and married already.   Btw, 8 is my lucky number.

9.  While I have a TV, I don't plug it in -- no cable, no satellite tv.  I used to get home from work around 6:30, and the Simpsons would be on.  Then Jeopardy. Then another Simpsons. And then it'd be 8pm programming.  In other words, I'd come home from work (where I sit all day) and I'd sit down for a few more hours.  The sedentary lifestyle was killing me.  So I made the deicision to not watch TV.  I miss jeopardy... but thus far in the 4 years without tv, it hasn't killed me.  I only use it for my Wii (I love my wii fit) and for dvds (a finite period of time every now and then...and i'm usually watching it from my balance ball).

10.  Another life-changing moment was when I started reading about Buddhism and more importantly Thich Nhat Hanh.  I can't even begin to describe to you the change of (1) forgiving myself and (2) not being angry has made.  Even with the whole weight loss thing, I find that because of those two things, I tend to let the bad days go and not feel too much guilt about them.  They happened. But what am I doing this moment?  What am I capable of doing this moment? It keeps me looking forward instead of looking behind.  When something comes up emotionally, I turn towards it instead of casting it aside.