Hello H2O, Goodbye Honey Child

It's a typical Wednesday morning; there is a strand of long black hair tangled around my left fingertips and a piece of wet toilet paper dancing circles in front of me, threatening to enter my mouth. Yup, just another 6AM on a Wednesday. I shouldn't complain, but swimming in public pools is really not enjoyable.

Sarah texted me last night: Hey, are you swimming tomorrow?

YES!!!

What time?

I looked at the time on my phone; it was already past nine and I was still downtown looking for God-knows-what who-knows-where.

...

7?

Ummm sure.

Yeah, she's not going to be there at 7. Sure enough, Darth Vador summoned me at 6:42AM. The text? I will not make it there by 7.

That was fine. It gave me a little extra time with the dogs I'm watching. I still beat Sarah to the pool, so I did some core work and cords. "My coach told me to," I explained to Sarah when she arrived to me doing plank on the water's edge.

We spent a good 15 minutes doing core and cords, waiting for a lane to open up. It seemed like everyone was circle swimming this morning. Finally, a lane opened up and we clumsily grabbed our goggles, threw off our sweats and dove in the chilly winter water (I don't care if it's indoors; it's still cold in there!). We looked like a comic strip, dust rising up from behind our feet, one flip-flop in the air as we pulled on our caps mid-run. But the lane was ours and only ours... for about 3 minutes. After changing lanes three times and circle swimming four times, I finished treading 3,300 yards of water.

I pulled my hair back into a ballerina bun and tossed a sweatshirt over my still-wet frame (for those of you who don't know, I don't use towels to dry off. It's weird, I know. Josh and Denise used to tease me all of the time--I get it. I'm weird). We walked over to Whole Foods with Jameisha and I ordered coffee and an apple. As we sat and enjoyed our breakfasts, we talked about lent and what we were giving up.

Most of you know that I LOVE lent. Any excuse to do something crazy and challenge myself- oh, I'm game. Last year, I gave up coffee (which didn't last too long. I think it only lasted as long as it did because I wanted to prove Ben wrong). I've also given up driving and spending money before, but mostly because I felt people were taking advantage of me and I wanted to have an excuse to cut them off without being a complete jerk. This year, I've decided to erase two things from my life as well as add one. I am not going to eat any processed foods (I think the only thing I'll struggle with are energy bars- they are so quick and easy!) and I'm not going to watch television (I spend more time watching Ted search for his future bride than I do cleaning my room. Things need to change). I'm also going to try to drink more water. I drink a lot as is, but not as much as I should, especially when I'm substituting it with coffee-- bad idea. They don't have quite the same affect on the body.

Let's think of all the things I will achieve from these changes in my life:

1. Get my six-pack back
2. Thrive in a clean room
3. Spend more time on the work website
4. Not get calf cramps during a run (let's hope)
5. Achieve optimal greatness and superiority to all non-water drinking, HIMYM watching, processed-food-eating fools.

Eh, sounds like a good plan to me.

Hello, Lent. Come on in to my life. Make yourself at home. Stay for a good forty days and if you like it here, feel free to move in. I might need to charge you some rent though...