Hi. I'm Bethy. And I'm an athlete.

I've never considered myself an athlete. At least, not a real athlete. Yes, I know I probably should, but everyone has their insecurities. One of mine is that I don't really think I'm athletic, no matter how many races I run.

But something happened the other day at the gym. I don't typically choose to run on the treadmill, but since I was working it out during my lunch break, it was just convenience.

I snagged a treadmill right in front of the mirrors and started warming up. Then I glanced up. And I saw an athlete.

I'm not trying to be cheesy here, folks; I'm just telling you that for the first time, I looked like an athlete to ME. It didn't hurt that I was wearing short, black compression shorts and a black tank top. I could see my leg muscles contracting as I ran--I'd never done that before. Even my arms looked strong as I swung them in rhythm with my strides. And my face looked focused and determined.

I'm an athlete.

So no matter how many times I want to give up or I feel tired. Or even if I skip a workout. I've seen myself as an athlete in the mirror. And that's what I am.

{Gap dress: exactly | NYC scarf | Banana Republic boots: Exactly | Target earrings}

Not enough

Four-day weekend is almost over. And I'm not nearly as far along in NaNoWriMo as I wanted to be. It's because my holiday laziness took over. (Blame it on the turkey.)

I got some writing done today, and I think I know basically how I need to build the story and then wrap it up, but I'm still lots of thousands of words behind where I need to be.

Can I complete my novel in time? Only time will tell. But it will take some major writing sessions.

In other news, Thanksgiving was great! As is tradition, our friend provided the turkey (he gets it from work for free), and I roasted it. 17.61 pounds of roasted meat and lots of side dishes later, 20 of us were stuffed full around my neighbor's makeshift banquet table. Yes, 20 people around a table in a one-bedroom apartment. It can be done, folks!

After the big meal and several hours of chatting, hubs and I went to our second, and more non-traditional, dinner at his coworker's place. It was a Puerto Rican feast of deliciousness and much smaller, with just six of us in attendance. All in all, Thanksgiving was great.

I'm super grateful for my SF friends, wonderful neighbors and awesome husband. I'm also grateful for my family near and far (but mostly far), even though I wasn't able to be with them this Thanksgiving. I'm thankful to have seen my in-laws just recently and that my parents will be here in just a month.

What are you thankful for?

Old Navy top and vest, Gap jeans, Madden boots

November: Do one thing

You know what the easiest excuse in the world is? "I don't have time."

So I'm bringing a different excuse to the table: "I'm a bad beginner."

It was an awesome and inspirational October. Two things specifically inspired me as a writer (both of song and otherwise):

1. John Vanderslice's house show, put on by KC Turner. JV--yeah, I know him. So what?--is quite the inspirational songwriter. He tells stories about his songs (or just about being a musician in general) that are so compelling, so endearing. And it makes me want to tell stories with my songs. Like Patty Griffin tells stories. (Have you ever heard her song "Makin' Pies"? It's beautiful. And haunting. And it tells a story.)

I wrote down several song ideas while I was enjoying the sweet sounds of John Vanderlice's music on someone's back lawn.

But have I actually made any of those ideas into songs? No. And I'll tell you why. It has to do with my second inspiring event.

Gap cords and top, Madden boots, F21 necklace

2. CAFe Salon Talk #1. It's an artist series curated by my church here in the city. CAFe (City Arts Fellowship) wants to connect artists so they can connect with and inspire one another. I went to the first "Salon Talk," which was basically a dinner at one artist's home (in this case, a blogger--love it!), during which we shared what we're interested in art-wise and our struggles with being a "poor beginner."

And I realized something while I was there. Karl--an amazing musician and our church music director--talked about how when you hear an amazing song, there are never any liner notes that say, "This song took six months to complete." You don't know how much work went into it and how long the songwriter had to struggle with getting started with the writing of it.

I felt relieved when I heard that. Maybe the beginning of writing a song really is just having those ideas scribbled down. And eventually one or more of them will become a song. But it's ok that it didn't happen in a month's time.

Speaking of things happening in a month's time, I have my "do one thing" for November. Are you ready for this? I'm doing NaNoWriMo. I'm writing a novel (or, at least a lot of little vignettes). My main idea is just to start getting ideas out there. I have several, many of them autobiographical in content. So, tomorrow starts my goal to average 1,666 words per day.

This will be interesting, and I'm really excited about it.

OH, and on the style front, I can't wait to show you my new shoes.

Layer FAIL

Well, I tried.

I tried a style out of InStyle magazine.

Old Navy dress, vest & scarf, Target leggings, Madden boots

InStyle has a great feature on layering different types of apparel pieces together.

And so I tried this one:

But it didn't really turn out the way I wanted:

I still liked the outfit, but I think I'll try something else layering-wise.

Day 16: Sneaky

I wasn't trying to be sneaky by leaving this top to the second half of the 30 for 30, it just worked out that way. But the nice thing is, now it's like I have a new top for the second half. Boo. Yah. And I got all creative and tied it. Whoa. It's getting real.

Have you been wondering what's going on with my Give up/Take on project? No? Oh, well, I'll update you anyway.

June's Give up/Take on was a half-fail. I did pretty good on the no-shopping thing (I admit I bought underwear (gasp!) and bought, and quickly returned, a swimsuit) and pretty terrible on the exercise everyday thing.

And I think, maybe, I know what the problem is. I didn't have a plan. Or I was just lazy. Or a combination of the two. Either way, making it my monthly "Take on" was a bit premature. I need to made it more organic.

I haven't decided yet what July's "Give up/Take on" will entail. I know, I know. I'm a few days late. And I'll be even later until I figure out what I want to do. K? K.

Have a happy 4th of July, all!

 Gap top and jeans, Old Navy boots and necklace

Day 15: Half

I got a compliment from a dude on this outfit. So I think that's a good seal of approval. Plus, I felt really good in it. Just, comfortable and cool.

And you can see it in action in this video we made at work. We're just experimenting with video right now, in the hopes that we can develop some great multimedia content for our company.

And it's fun.

 Gap dress, Target leggings and necklace, gifted (from Hong Kong) scarf, Madden boots

Knot #2

I told you I would tie a knot in my shirt again. Very exciting stuff going on in the life of my shirt today.

You know how I also told you that I'm not much of a thrifter? Well, I'm still not, but I am a bargain hunter.

Today I stopped by Old Navy and the Gap and got some ridiculous deals. I was so excited I made my husband let me show him what I bought. (My mom and I always used to do that to my dad, and Dad would feign interest like it was his job. We knew he was faking it, but we still delighted in bringing out our purchases for him to see.)

Don't worry. All of the purchases will make an appearance here.

Tomorrow I'm going to my second networking opportunity for work. It's a social media event, and my new, official title is "Social Media Manager," so I'm pretty stoked. I even have business cards to hand out.

 Gap top, Banana Republic sweater, Old Navy jeans, Madden boots

"It's Business Time"

 Gap top, J. Brand jeans, Urban cardigan, Madden boots, H&M necklace

Blog, meet chambray shirt. Chambray shirt, blog. When I put on this outfit, husband said I looked very "business-like." When I defensively asked what he meant, he said he meant it in a good way. I'm digging it, too. So that last pose is my business pose. Apparently I mean business when looking at my watchless wrist.

And I got a compliment at work, too, so I'd say this outfit wins. I can't wait to see what else I can do with the chambray top.

Yesterday was husband's last day before his Hong Kong trip, so we had a spontaneous happy hour date. Here's to happy hours with cheap appetizers that we make into our dinner. Yum!




* Ten points if you know where I got the blog title.

Long Day

 F21 tunic & necklace, Urban cardigan, Target leggings, Madden boots

Yesterday--Monday--was a long day. It started with bootcamp at 6am (which has left me walking like a weirdo all day because I'm so sore) and ended with getting home from class around 9:30pm. Have I mentioned I'm taking a magazine editing class at the community college? Man, community college classes in California are cheap. So cheap that I can't help but take a class or two.

But it made for a long Monday. But a good Monday.

Tonight husband leaves for Hong Kong. You heard right. Hong. Kong. He's going for work. It's really exciting because it's his first overseas trip for work. And his first trip to Asia. Jealous? Yeah, me too, but I got over it because I know we'll go to Asia together someday.

Anyway, kids, it's seriously time for bed because I've got bootcamp again in the am.

P.S. Think I might be giving up the old Wordpress account to blog exclusively here. Maintaining two blogs on two different platforms is just too much. And silly.

P.P.S. Because husband will be gone for over a week, I might revive the "Steal From Your Husband" series, first seen here. Stay tuned.

23 of 30: What's the Bright Idea?

 Delia*s top, Gap cords, Madden boots, old scarf and necklace

Ok. You're probably wondering where I've been. Well, I have some awesome excuses and some awkward excuses, so let's do this in Awkward and Awesome Thursday format!

Awkward

• Time is just not on my side. The days have been getting away from me and I just can't keep up.
• The last 10 days of the 30 for 30 were HARD. (I can say this now because tomorrow is technically my last day, aside from all the post catching-up I have to do.)
• My laptop crashed. This is sad. But I don't give up easily and will do everything I can possibly do before giving up. I'll even call customer service, by golly.

Awesome

• I have cool friends. They're so cool that when they come for conferences in San Francisco, they stay a few extra days just to see me. And other friends come up from SoCal to visit me simultaneously. So there's lots of friendness going on. Two of my ladies were here last weekend and we had a blast. More on that later.
• I have a cool new job. And you know what? I get to blog for a living. It's only been three days, but I'm very optimistic about this one, people.
• I have a full social calendar. Well, OK, Monday I had class. But I've been very social otherwise. So social in fact that my apartment is a mess and I can't remember the last time I cooked dinner. Oh, right, I made tacos with my buddy Steph last Thursday. That counts, right?

22 of 30: Locked Out

 Gap top and jeans, Target cardigan, husband's belt, Madden boots

The reason my mouth is open in all of these shots is because I'm a mouth-breather. Ew. But seriously, if you look close enough, you might just see my swollen sinuses. Again, ew. At least I made it to work today.

Funny story about these photos. So I stepped outside to empty the trash and snap these pics when I hear the door click locked. What? Yeah. I'm locked out. Then I see my boss walking to her car and I walk up to her. "Did you just lock me out??" She laugh and apologizes. She didn't know I was out there. How could she? Haha. Don't worry, I got back inside. You see, folks, this is why I normally take my pictures in the morning, while my breakfast/tea is heating up. Less threat of being locked out.

I am so super spectacularly excited because two of my loveliest girlfriends are in town this week. We're going to have some adventures. Or just stay in and cook dinner and watch movies. Or a combination of the two. I haven't decided yet. Either way, it'll be special.

20 and 21 of 30: Naptastic

 gifted tank; Gap sweater, cords and socks; Old Navy jacket, Madden boots, F21 shades

What's that? You thought I'd started slacking? Well, maybe just a little bit. A couple of friends and I had President's Day off, so we decided to take a spontaneous trip to Napa. We did Napa on the cheap, which meant sharing dishes at meal times and staying at the cheapest motel available (the Chardonnay Lodge. Super classy joint.).

It was a splendid trip, indeed. We walked around a couple of wineries and got a free tasting. We also ate pizza and junk food in our motel room. Like I said, classy.

I'm in need of some new boots, y'all. I love these. They are loading so slowly. But I really need some good, leather flat boots. Even just this one-inch heel gives me trouble sometimes. I'm thinking I need to seek out some taupe-colored boots. Taupe goes with everything, right?

 Gap sweater, scarf and socks; Madden boots; Old Navy jacket; Target ring (see how I'm showing it off in that second shot?)

But tomorrow it's back to work (for my last week before the new gig starts), so I'd better hit the hay. Stay classy, blogosphere!

(P.S. Doesn't my friend Christie take some lovely pictures?)

15 of 30: There's a Fine Fine Line

 Banana Republic top, J. Brand jeans, Gap jacket and cardigan, thrifted scarf, husband's belt, Madden boots

Why, yes, that is a swiffer sweeper. Thanks for asking.

Tonight was wonderful. We went to opening night of "Avenue Q" at the Orpheum Theater after dinner with Chip's coworker and his partner at the Grove (the new one on Hayes and Franklin). A lovely night indeed. Until the walk home. It was windy and rainy. Typically I don't mind rain. Neither do I mind wind. But together, they're just brutal. A deadly combo for those of us walking home from the theater.

Oh, but it's too late (a.k.a. past my bedtime) for me to write more. Good night, all!

14 of 30: A Patriotic Valentine's

 Gifted top, Target cardigan, Gap cords, Old Navy jacket, Madden boots, gifted scarf

Happy Day, y'all! The hubs and I went out for our fancy Valentine's Day dinner on Thursday. Thursday, you ask? Yep. Thursday. You see, I got a new job. (Or jeorb, if you're Coach Z. Anybody? Bueller? Ah, forget it.) I found out about the job on Thursday, so hubs decided we should go out and celebrate my new job and Valentine's Day. We like having fancy dinners when there's a special occasion/things to celebrate.

We went out tonight as well. (We have, like, NO groceries.) But just to the little Thai place around the corner. So, we kind of celebrated tonight as well.

Two Valentine's Day dinners? Sure, why not?

The wind was having fun giving me new hairstyles today during my photo shoot. You gotta make it work. Like Tim Gunn says. Right?