Not So Badly Done

So like most Americans (seriously, we need to do something about this) I'm wanting to lose weight. I actually have lost almost 30 pounds since last August, which is not too shabby. My goal is to be 2-5 more pounds down by the end of August to bring that total up to 32-35 lost in one year. Not stellar but I'll take it. 

I'm not going to spend a whole long time on this because 1. I'm not done, 2. I'm not an expert and 3. Not so much the point of this entry. 

Anyway, I'm putting the goals down on the interwebs to help keep myself accountable. I want to be another 10-15 pounds down (ish) from now in November, and at my goal weight by next August. But I'm not thinking too much about those down the line goals, I'm focusing on the 2-5, which has actually helped me lose and keep it off. The little goals are easy and I don't get discouraged. How am I doing this? By putting everything I eat into my FitBit app, watching what I eat, and working out. Simple. Traditional. Effective. 

Moving right along...

If you haven't been watching Emma Approved you need to go do it right now. I mean, I loved Pemberley Digital's updated version of Pride and Prejudice with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and their update of Emma has been just as awesome. Seriously, updating Jane Austen is HARD, and they've done a spectacular job. 

**SPOILER ALERT FOR THE FOLLOWING TWO PARAGRAPHS**

Anywho, Emma is one of my all-time favorite books. I feel like I've said this before but it bears repeating. So for those of you who know the story, we just got to the point where Mr. Knightley scolds Emma for her treatment of Miss Bates at Box Hill. Now, in the adaptation, they had Emma embarrass Maddy Bates about her home-made jams at the celebrity opening of the restaurant Boxx in Beverley Hills (I see what you did there...). Then Jane gets mad at Emma because Jane is in love with Frank who has been hanging all over Emma like crazy, but we know that Frank is just doing that so no one knows about him and Jane. Why, I don't know. So Jane reams Emma out (somewhat rightly so, but not entirely). Emma (fantastically acted by Joanna Sotomura) is reeling from this when Alex Knightley enters to get on her case about being mean to Maddy. 

We know, of course, that Knightley has come to the realization that he's in love with Emma and he can't stand to see her act like Frank Churchill. He believes she's acting like Frank because she's in love with Frank, which we all know isn't true, but Emma's behavior in this instance is not good. So Knightley leaves, and Emma, who has always had things handed to her is suddenly adrift. I hate sounding fangirlish but, the feels! I can't wait to see what tomorrow's episode will bring!

Moving right along. Mostly because that was two episodes ago and it still...mmm. So well done, guys! So well done! 

Last, but not least, book time.

I've started The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Talk about right in the feels! This book is convicting and well-written, if a little hard to get through because of the depth of the content and the language, which is at a significantly higher level than a fiction novel. (I know, talk about shifting gears...) Anyway, so far, so good. It's been an interesting read that has given me a great deal to think on. I think this will be a slower read than what I am used to, however, I think it'll impart much more knowledge than what I usually read as well. 

Until next time :D

Relevantly Irrelevant

The MLB All-Star game is upon us!!!! Cue the excitement! Cue the music! Break out the beer and snacks!

Or not. 

Can we just discuss how completely ridiculous and irrelevant this game is? But because it's got post-season implications, it is actually relevant? Forgetting that fact that the players are voted their by the FANS who are by their very definition BIASED (and despite what any of them say, they are all huge homers ), this game is useless! I am not a fan of the All-Star game because in EVERY. OTHER. SPORT. the all-star game is an exhibition. It's fun. It means nothing.

But no. Baseball has to make this game "relevant". So now we sit through an exhibition game and have to care because whichever side wins gets HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE for the World Series. Which if anyone is counting, the NL is winning 43-39 all time in All-Star games but in the last 20 years, it's 13-6 in favor of the AL with 1 tie. 

I'm sorry. The team with the best record should get home field advantage, AL or NL. That's how they do NBA, NHL...and the NFL playoffs do the same thing (NFL has only one game at a neutral site for the championship, thus it is hard to compare it to baseball). 

Will I watch? Probably. It's hard not to when you are a sports fan and there is LITERALLY nothing else on. And I don't watch a whole lot of TV anymore (gee, thanks grad school!) so many times, especially in the summer, sports are the only reason to turn on the tube.

The interwebs on the other hand...

So I tried, really tried, to hold off on watching Emma Approved. I mean, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries were like my biggest form of procrastination the whole time I was getting my Master's degree. I was actually glad it was over before student teaching. And I refused to start Emma Approved until I graduated and got a job. Well, still no job but I did start (and catch up on) Emma Approved the other day and can I just say: It is FANTASTIC! 


Not only because of these two: 

Emma Woodhouse and Alex Knightley played by Joanna Sotomura and Brent Bailey

But because they are adorable. See exhibits A, and B: 

It also doesn't hurt that Emma is one of my all time favorite novels with my hands down favorite leading man, ever. He's always been one of my favorites. I love Jonny Lee Miller in the 2009 Masterpiece Classic Emma. He's the long-suffering, sensible best friend who is adorably awkward. Bailey's Knightley is less awkward, more adorable, and is subsequently dubbed "Snarky Knightley" during the show by Emma because he is. Very snarky. Adorably snarky. I LOVE it. I didn't think it was possible, but I believe I like Mr. Knightley even more now... 

So yeah. I guess check out the All Star game and DEFINITELY check out Emma Approved and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (if you haven't already)

Also, starting something new: book of the week. I'm reading Zorro by Isabel Allende. 

I've read the original (Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley) and loved the Disney series (the one that came out in 1957. I loved watching the reruns of that as a kid) and the movies. So far the book is a bit...off beat. Not bad, but the narrator definitely has an agenda, which I don't mind but I haven't really gotten to any action yet. I'll keep you posted. 

Adios!