This Post Includes Pictures. I'm Sorry For Any Damage That May Cause

2010 was a good year for me.

I'm not even going to lie about it.

I'm also not going to lie about the fact that it really started kinda shotty.

But that shotty start really is what ultimately made 2010 such a rockin' year.

And by rockin' I mean totally life changing.

Have you heard of Story People?

If you haven't, I strongly suggest that you check them out. They're really wonderful pieces of artwork that have funky people and creative sayings on them. Sometime the sayings don't make any sense at all. And sometimes they can be real life changing.

I have several of these hanging in my office and home. One Story People piece really stands out to me though. It says this: "Everything changed the day she realized she had just enough time for the important things in life."

This statement has been my anthem for the last year.

Because everything did change for me the day that I realized I had enough time for the important things in life.

For me, this was figuring out that I had enough time in a day to make time for ME.

My whole life I have spent my time trying to please people. To be the person that they needed me to be. I would never change this. And I'd like to think that I haven't. However, in doing this, I have often neglected some of my own needs. And as hard as it is to admit it, this has primarily been in the are of my health; specifically my weight.

But because of my shotty start to the year, I was really motivated to make a change. This year I realized I had just enough time to change my life.

Here are some numbers that have been important to me in the process of this whole life changing thing...

800: the number of miles I logged this year either walking, jogging, but mostly elliptical-ing.

12: the number of months it took me to complete this.

804: the number of miles it is from my house in WaveTown to my parents house in DTown.

12: the number of hours it takes to drive from WaveTown to DTown

60: the number of pounds I lost this year.

Though there is still more pounds to lose and more miles to be logged, I feel overwhelmingly pleased with the progress I have made. Though it scares the Hades out of me to do so, I'm going to post two pictures. One from January of 2010 and one from January 2011. I hope you can see a difference. I think you can. But then again, I might be a little bit biased. If nothing else, at least Mindilicious can notice a difference. And let's be honest, her opinion is really what matters.

So here's January 2010. Say hello to my coworkers at the Deemer. Unfortunately they are awkwardly cropped in the picture. Sorry about that. Especially you, Carl. You're all up in this photos buis-nas. (Carl is the red-shirted wonder to my left in the picture)

And hello January 2011. Cheers to awkward pictures taken in the Deemer ladies bathroom mirror! As a side note, blonde really is a much better color on me. Please don't tell Mindilicous that I admitted that. This has been an on-going battle royal for us. I will not go silently into the night.

So here's to a shotty start to a year and a the wonderful outcome of it. I'm ready to do it again, minus the mean girl in the bar. Bring it world.

Emily out.