Today's walk

So, this evening I was feeling a little down on myself and frustrated.  Then I thought, "Hmm...I haven't exercised in a while.  Maybe I should walk around the block."  So, five minutes later, I had donned my tennis shoes, grabbed my ipod, and got my coat out of the car.  Initially, I just set out to walk around the block.  Then, all of a sudden I had this rush of high expectations for myself and decided I wanted to walk around the block 4 times.  I've done twice before, but I figured since I hadn't walked, or really exercised at all, lately that I should give it a go.

Well, reality set in on the second lap when it started getting dark.  I came to the realization that I didn't really NEED to go around the block four times.  I decided, I'll just walk around the block as many times as I can before dark.  Then the raindrops started.  I LOVE walking in the rain, but the fact that it was raining was a little disconcerting, especially since I had looked at the weather report earlier on weather.com and they said that there was a thunderstorm that had gone through Portland and could shift over Oregon City.  With said thunderstorm, there were reports of penny-sized hail.  I wasn't so sure that I wanted to walk around the block in the hail.  So, then I decided I'd go until it was too dark to see, or it started hailing.

Surprisingly, there was no hail!  I was glad, but my glasses started fogging up on my third trip around the block. Ugh.  I could've possibly gone around a fourth time, but when the glasses fog up, it gets a little hard to see.  Not to mention that the raindrops were starting to gather on my glasses as well.

Anyways, I went around 3 times.  Not too bad.  Especially when I checked the distance on google maps and see that one time around the block is 0.8 miles.  That means I walked about 2.4 miles this evening!  I think I'll make it a goal to walk around the block at least once a day.  The more laps I put in, the better, but no pressure to do a certain number.

In addition to my walking, I think I found a new way to push myself to keep up the pace.  While I was walking, I was listening to my playlist that I so eloquently named "Yup".  It's just a mishmosh of songs I like.  No genre, no specific reason or common thread, other than the fact that I like them.  So, as I started my walk, I was just ambling on at a leisurely pace.  Of course, that changed as soon as the song "Groove is in the Heart" by Deee Lite came on.  That's the song we performed our Drum Major routines to for the USA All-Star trip to London my Junior Year of High School.  Anyways, I really like that song, just because it has a good beat and makes me want to dance-which I couldn't help doing as I was walking.  I'm sure I looked like a complete fool to any casual observer.  Ha.  I don't know that I care. 

As I was dance-walking, I noticed that I was walking in step with the song.  So, I forced myself to continue doing that until the song was over.  The next song that came on was "Everybody Dance Now" by C & C Music Factory.  Again, it had a nice beat, so I kept walking in step with it.  Soon, I had walked or jogged in step to multiple songs, and had kept up a decent pace as I walked.  I skipped songs that were too slow and songs that were way too fast to walk in step to.  It was fun-almost a game.  I think if I were to continue doing this, I wouldn't mind walking so much.  We'll see if it keeps walking fun.

I'm planning to put together a special playlist for my walks, so that I have songs that have relatively quick tempos in it to push me a bit faster on my walks.  I suppose it's always an option to skip the walking in step part, but I enjoyed it tonight, and I actually found I did it on instinct.  =)

If you want to contribute song ideas, I'd be totally open to it!  Just post them in the comments.  That is...if anyone is actually reading.

Makeup

I am 24 years old.  I just started wearing makeup on any sort of consistent basis a little over a year ago.  I didn't care about it in Jr. High, and in High School I only really wore makeup for dances or other special sorts of occasions.  Let's be honest-I didn't care a whole lot about my appearance in general at that point.  I was in Marching Band, and during competitions makeup wasn't allowed.  I probably used that as an excuse to a certain extent, even with myself, because it would mess up my "routine" to do makeup some days but not others.  I didn't have any kind of routine, so I can honestly say that was a bunch of bull shit.

However, I vividly remember girls complaining in Marching Band about how "ugly" they looked for competitions, or on trips for church (Mexicali, Quaker Meadow, Mammoth) when girls would complain about people seeing them before they had "beautified" themselves.  At that point, I thought they were ridiculous.  I thought they were vain, and to a certain extent they probably were, but I kind of get it now.

Tonight, for the first time, I looked closely at my face before I cleaned off the makeup.  Again, after I removed the makeup, I looked closely again.  It is starting to make more sense to me why these girls felt that way.  I am so used to seeing my "made-up" face, that it's hard for me to like looking at my plain, albeit God-given, face.

I wear makeup to make myself look and feel more professional, because as a 24-year-old teacher, I'm still young.  The kids are aware that I'm young (well, maybe not the Preschoolers, but the 6th graders do!).  They ask me questions about pop culture and expect me to know what they're talking about and react positively.  They expect my age to mean I'm hip.  Is that even a word anymore?  Whatever.  I use makeup as a differentiating tool.  I am not their peer.  They need to know that, and I need to know that.  For me, makeup is about making myself presentable as an adult teacher.

Yes, of course, it has become a habit.  I do wear makeup on the weekends, too.  I'm not saying that there isn't even a hint of vanity in my reasons for wearing makeup.  That's there, too.  But primarily, I wear makeup because I was told to do so in one of my classes.  A professor (or visiting speaker?) told the girls in my class that wearing makeup (and doing it properly) would help set us apart from our students.  Sure, she probably meant High Schoolers.  I still think it's valuable.

Anyways, what do you guys think?  Is make up pointless?  Is it totally worthwhile?  Do you use it?  What are your reasons for using it, or not using it?  Do you feel different when you wear it?  Do you feel different about yourself when you wear it?  Or when you take it off?

Just some thoughts.  And, to finish it off...

Girls, you are beautiful the way God made you.  You don't need makeup.  Wear it only if you choose to for your own reasons, not because our society tells you it's important-it's not!  You are!  =)