That being said, I have an extremely busy next few weeks, between finishing up the moving process and beginning a new job. I’ll be checking in, but posts will be erratic. I appreciate your understanding.

If you do need to reach me during this time for whatever reason, please email me at swimrunom@gmail.com.

Here’s to a fantastic 2012!

I love this time of year, just like I always loved the beginning of school. The promise of a blank slate, a fresh notebook, is enticing. And I have a lot to be thankful for, because I’m also starting a new job on January 2nd. (Before going further, I do want to say THANK YOU to everyone who was so supportive and encouraging of me while I was unemployed. I appreciate every word of support.)

So yes, this is another blog post about “goals for 2012″ … I’m trying to keep things simple and achievable. Let me know what you think:

• Save at least $10 a week. My secret goal is to save way more than this, especially at the beginning of the year. But realistically, things happen. Like emergency car repairs or shoe sales. $10 a week = $520 + interest in a year. On one hand, that’s not a lot, but on the other hand, that covers utility bills for a few months. Or it covers two car payments. Or one rent payment. Or that new laptop I have my eye on.
• Get to a size 6/8. Is there a specific number I want to see on the scale? Yes. Does it really matter? No. I’ve been hovering between a 10/12 for a while now, and while I’m happy to no longer be at a 16 (!!!), I’m ready to break into single digits. So rather than focus on weight this year, I’m focusing on how my clothes fit.

All links open in a new tab/window.

My favorites

* A blogging no-no (Jan. 27) : I think this was the first moment that I began to realize that I shouldn’t follow blogging guidelines if they don’t necessarily work for me.

* Food, My History (April 26) : I was not prepared for how much I enjoyed re-reading this post. It’s something I continue to think about constantly. I wish I had a better ending for it, though.

* it’s okay to be sad (Nov. 2) : I was super nervous about writing this because I realize it may come across as me being ungrateful, but the understanding and agreement I got online and from my real-life friends was astounding. I really do believe that “you’re about as happy as you make your mind up to be,” but I think a lot of people refuse to accept the fact that negative emotions are part of life, and it’s perfectly okay to allow yourself sadness/anger/fear/whatever.

My least favorites

Most under-rated

Most life-changing

* Today’s my birthday! (Feb. 21) – This is the typical reflective post that befits a birthday, particularly a 25th birthday. But I really feel like this is one of my more introspective posts, and I really enjoyed revisiting it. Realizing that life isn’t perfect has probably been one of my hardest lessons, and this post sums it up pretty well.

* One year ago (April 14) – Looking back over this post is bittersweet, particularly knowing what I know now. However, I have zero regrets about any of it, and this post reminds me that whatever it is I want or need, I can do it.

* i never thought i’d write this (Oct. 25) : I was laid off, and this was what I wrote.

Link love! Post your favorite blog post that you’ve written this past year in the comments (or email, tweet or Facebook me) and I’ll compile them into a post. Multiple submissions allowed. Do this by … Wednesday? And I’ll post everything Friday.

For everyone worried about their privacy and security online, particularly on Facebook, then I have two words for you … SHUT. UP.

First of all, you don’t care that much about your security. “But Carly, I do!” you protest. No, you freakin’ don’t, because if you did, YOU WOULDN’T BE ON FACEBOOK.

“But Carly, everyone is on Facebook!”

No, friend/moron, a lot of people are on Facebook including a lot of people you know, but there are many people who aren’t on Facebook. I love Facebook and think it’s a valuable resource along with being a fun way to kill time and stalk friends! But you would get along perfectly fine in this world without being on Facebook. So if your privacy is so important to you, LOG OFF OF A WEBSITE THAT IS BASED AROUND SHARING ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE.

Now that we’ve established that you don’t really care about your privacy, here’s how you can protect it:

* Change your security settings. No, I’m not going to tell you how, because there are countless blogs out there to do that for me. Oh, and also, FACEBOOK freakin’ tells you how to do that. So do it! Set it to just friends! And speaking of …

* Don’t accept every single friend request, moron. And I say moron lovingly, because guess what? You don’t have 657 friends. You don’t. And you certainly don’t have 657 friends who have nothing but your best interests at heart. Do you not watch Judge Judy? Do you not see these people who were family members and friends hashing it out over what amounts to a $50 garbage mattress that got stained or some crap like that? You maybe know 10, 20 people who you can really, really trust in life, because people are crap like that. Even someone you think you can trust could end up screwing you over! So if you are going to accept 657 friends for whatever stupid reason, just know that you are probably going to be screwed over at some point, because not all of those 657 people love and care about you. That’s just the harsh truth.

* Don’t share everything online. Oh, this makes sense. If you’re shy about people knowing what your favorite movie is, then don’t put it online where people can read that. Even if you do have your security settings to private, just use common sense and don’t post stuff! You don’t have to post everything, just like you don’t have to be on Facebook (see my first point in this blog).

This may sound harsh because I mean it to be harsh. You can’t complain about lack of privacy in one post and then post regular updates of where you are at any given point in time. Do you not read the news stories about people posting all about their vacations, and then coming home to find their place robbed? So many people post everything about their newborn baby right onto Facebook … I’ve seen countless posts detailing the baby’s full name, weight, DOB and other details … do you people not realize that you’re playing into the hands of criminals, particularly identity thieves? KEEP YOUR STUFF PRIVATE.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people post those little questionnaires onto Facebook … you know, the ones that outline your favorite color, favorite teacher, et cetera … that’s just playing right into the hands of a hacker. Don’t you realize that most password security questions are those exact same questions?! And you’re giving the answers away to a would-be thief!

I happen to like Facebook Timeline, which is different because I admittedly don’t like a lot of what Facebook does. And some of Facebook’s privacy/security dealings have been shady. I get that. I get your concern. And bad things happen sometimes no matter how diligent you are. I don’t particularly care how open or private you are online. But my point here is to not be concerned about your privacy … my point is to STOP BEING A VICTIM and to either change how you approach protecting yourself, or STOP COMPLAINING.

Rant over.

I honestly do not know how full-time bloggers do this … I’m ready to go berserk without having an actual brick-and-mortar job!

On a positive note, I have had more time to pursue activities I enjoy … I’ve been reading more, going back over my old French lessons, taking random walks, crocheting, and writing for pleasure.

(I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m really 83 years old. If you needed proof, the above paragraph should have taken care of any doubts.)

But I’m ready to go back to work. There have been a couple of positive developments, but I am obviously still unemployed at the moment, so … yeah. It’s still a tad depressing at times, but I think I’ve pretty much moved past it. It’s one of those things that happens to a lot of people, and I can’t dwell on it too much.

On a more upbeat note, I’m very excited to be going home for the holidays and to catch up with old friends. The end of December/beginning of January wraps up my favorite time of year so I plan on just enjoying the moment and enjoying the fact that I’m not working on Christmas this year as I did last year. Might as well make the most of it, right? Who knows where I’ll be next year!

Let me know in the comments what activities you’d do more of if you had more time at your disposal. Writing? Rock climbing? Or would you just sit down for a Real Housewives marathon? (Which I have done.)

When asked to reflect on my original reasons for blogging, I could absolutely take the easy way out and answer (honestly!) “I don’t know.” Do you really know why you start blogging? There are a myriad of reasons, but nothing specific jumps out.

Was it to hold myself accountable? To keep a daily (or reasonably updated) journal of my life? To connect with other people in a supportive online community? Yes, yes, and yes.

The most honest answer (again, other than “I don’t know”) is that I had been reading blogs for a while and I was eager to jump in and contribute something of my own. It’s not easy for me to NOT say something — if you know me in real life, you know I can very loudly share my opinion — so despite taking up only 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent of the Internet, I still get a thrill from having my voice out there.

But what keeps me blogging, what provides my inspiration, are the online relationships that I’ve cultivated over the past year and a half. It’s more than just getting feedback on a post, or seeking advice via Twitter. It’s about that connection, that support, the knowledge that there are people out there who care about others with no questions asked.

If I don’t run for a while, I get a tweet from someone encouraging me to get out there. I occasionally get an email or Facebook message asking how the job hunt is going. When I share something good, people are quick to congratulate me. No questions asked. No personal connection needed. Just people being there for other people because that’s our responsibility as humans.

And to me, ultimately, that’s what blogging and social media connections are all about. Sharing a bit of the human experience. I once read somewhere (and I’m loosely paraphrasing) that there is no way a person can experience everything in one lifetime, so reading allows us to experience those things we can’t do firsthand. So while the Internet has its own pitfalls — ignoring those Nigerian princes and Twitter spammers and Facebook creepers — it also enables us to share with and learn from others.

If you blog, why did YOU start blogging? If you don’t have a blog, why do you think people blog? Would you ever consider it? And who/what inspires you the most?

Unemployment is stressful. Unemployment is boring.

If you don’t see where this is going, immediately stop reading this post and go work on your reading comprehension skills.

Now, with the exception of Thanksgiving, I’ve definitely cleaned up my eating act over the past couple of weeks, but as I look back, November seemed like a spiral of food … lasagna, chicken-and-dumplings, pizza, minestrone, chicken tortilla soup … that’s all of the specific meals that I can remember. (The minestrone in particular was delicious. I think I’ll make it again soon and share the recipe here.)

I have a few ways to handle this type of eating:

• Gum. Chewing gum freshens my breath and keeps me from eating. It also makes me burp-y. Win-win-lose.
• Ginger ale. At some point in time, I convinced myself that ginger ale is better for me than Coke. This works because it is bubbly and fills up my stomach. It also makes me burp-y.
• Take a nap. Keeps me from eating, but takes time out of my day. This step is an inconvenience, so I rarely do it.
• Go for a walk. I don’t really do this.

While it makes me uncomfortable when people stress themselves out over maintaining their workout and “diet” over the holidays (because, as I’ve said before, you have 360 days out of the year to be healthy; the holidays should be for eating and stretching out on the couch), I am going to spend December (the mother of all holidays) focusing on portion control and avoiding eating simply because there’s nothing else to do.

How do I plan on doing this? By following the above steps (including the walking one … it sounds reasonable, so I shall start doing that) and by implementing these:

• Tracking my food. You may remember when I had a brief affair with SparkPeople. It ended, but I’m going to start it back up at least for this month.
• Eating the food out of my freezer. I have a lot of food in my freezer. I need to watch my budget. Going through what I have before going back to the store will save me time, money and mindless munching. Win-win-win.
• No eating after 7. Okay, I’m not a big fan of the “no eating after whatever time” rule, but I’ve been snacking a lot late at night. I usually eat dinner by 7 (and sometimes as early as 4, because I’m apparently 72 years old), so 7 feels like a good time to close up the kitchen. If I’m really hungry, I’ll eat something, but I’m very rarely truly hungry after this time. (Also, this rule obviously doesn’t apply when I go out with friends and we’re not eating dinner until 8 or 9. But since going out is a rare occurrence, made even more rare by my new budget, this may happen only once or twice. No biggie.)

Other than this, I’m lost. Any other boredom and/or stress eaters out there? Please, share your tips/secrets/advice.

1. “If you keep making that face, it will freeze that way.” (What SHOULD have been said: “If you keep making that face, you will get wrinkles and resemble Yoda in your mid-twenties.”)

2. “You need this $85 portfolio.” (In college, for our senior presentation, we had to buy those nice portfolios you can find in any office supply store. Our professors insisted that we would use them for the rest of our lives. Admittedly, I have been carrying mine – updated, of course – to interviews, and it looks really nice and professional, BUT most portfolios are digital and I’m having to transition everything I’ve ever done and it’s time consuming because I have a dinosaur desktop PC. And in 2007, they should have realized that and just let us get those cheap $10 cardboard ones.)

3. “You should cut back on coffee.” (You should mind your own business. Seriously, I’m tired of being told by bloggers and health magazines to cut out the coffee, and then the next month being told that coffee is good for you. I’m drinking coffee with my artificial sweeteners because I like it, and no trend or advice will stop me!)

4. “You should start Botox before you need it.” (This was said to me while I was interviewing a spa specialist for a feature story I was writing. The woman was 29 and, admittedly, gorgeous. Her forehead didn’t move. This was when I was 21. At 25, I do have a wrinkle (or two) on my forehead, but there was something so sad about an expressionless forehead on this beautiful woman that even I noticed when I was at my most superficial age (I was a real jerk until around 23). I’m not saying I will never get Botox or plastic surgery, but I’m thinking I’ll let my 20s unfold in a natural way.)

5. “You are beautiful no matter what.” (Said to me by my mom, my dad, friends, boyfriends, magazines. No, I’m not, and you’re not either. Sorry, but sometimes we just look gross. It’s nothing a good shower, some make-up and a blow-dry can’t fix, but ladies … can we just admit that sometimes we are not at our best? It’s okay to have eye crusties and to wear sweats every so often. And guys, when you say “You look beautiful” when I know I look gross, it’s just condescending. Don’t acknowledge the grossness in any way.)

6. “Your thighs are like tree trunks.” (Said to me by a boyfriend. I have muscular legs, and I think that’s what he was getting at, but this was when I was 18 and a size 2. Seven years later, I finally have the perfect comeback: “Your face is reminiscent of a troll that’s been smushed in the elevator doors and then pooped on by a koala bear.”)

7. “A college degree will get you places.” (Kind of true, except add “… when the economy’s not bad.” Then laugh maniacally.)

8. “You should study more/work harder.” (I had a good GPA in high school and college, but the truth of the matter is that no one remembers anything that you ever did the second you graduate. I don’t remember who my high school valedictorian and salutatorian were – I was 15th in the class, I do remember that because I got to sit up front – but in high school especially I was so wound up over grades and achieving success in extracurriculars that I sacrificed a little thing called my sanity. If you’re still in school, it’s important to study and do well, but if you’re trying to achieve a certain GPA, remember – unless you need it to advance to another school – no one will remember nor care. You don’t know if you get the 4.0 doctor or the 2.7 doctor, is what I’m saying.)

9. “Dance as if no one is watching.” (This was not said to me specifically, but it’s a popular saying that I am including here to point out how stupid it is. People are watching, and 90 percent of us are not graceful enough to pull this off. It just means to not care what other people think, which is a good lesson, but for the sake of your self esteem, do not literally do this.)

10. “Fox News is unbiased.” (I couldn’t think of a tenth thing. I don’t really care about Fox News one way or the other, but I think as adults we can agree that Fox News is as unbiased as MSNBC is.)

The point of all of this? Just because someone is older doesn’t make them wiser. Just because you respect a person’s advice doesn’t mean you have to take it. And just because something that someone says may hurt your feelings, that doesn’t mean you have to let it change who you are.

What did someone tell you that ended up being not true?

1. “You are more expensive to maintain than you realize. Those highlights in your hair? Cost $85-$115 every six to eight weeks. Have fun with your $7 box of fake hair color from Walmart.”

2. “By the way, your mother started going gray in her early 20s, meaning that you will too. Sorry no one told you before … well, before.”

3. “Cars are expensive, and we’re not just talking about gas prices. Insurance, maintenance, repairs all add up. Oh, by the way, gas prices will skyrocket past $3 a gallon soon.”

4. “If you drink an entire pot of coffee in the span of 30 minutes, you will pass out.”

5. “If you drink an entire bottle of wine in the span of 30 minutes, you will pass out.”

6. “Always forgetting to bring your sunglasses will result in a case of wrinkles.”

7. “It may be high school and people may be calling you an albino, but don’t use tanning beds. You will soon realize that a.) it’s icky and b.) you’re prone to funky moles.”

8. “Only people in their early 20s can stay up for 48 hours straight and look okay.”

9. “Don’t rush into relationships, even when it feels ‘right’.”

10. “Keep exercising and chill out on the fast food! Your freakish metabolism will last only so long.”

What do you wish someone had told you while you were still in school?