Celeste Dylan

I had the weirdest dream while under the influence of some pain meds for my back…. Yes, I pushed it a little too hard in my quest for a beach body. Anyway, the dream was all about me having a zipcode contest with my friend Megan from Colorado. We were going back and forth trying to see who knew the most zipcodes, and I was amazing! Haha, I actually woke myself up when I shouted 848- central New Jersey! I guess I have a lot of friends in a lot of different places.

It seems as though the week has flown by! I never believed my parents when they said that times goes so fast the older you get, but now I am starting to understand that concept. Dad, Mom, I wish I would have listened to you. I wish I would have cherished every moment of my childhood. I wish I wouldn’t have ‘wanted to grow up’ so quickly. I wish I would have been perfectly content at the age of nine instead of looking forward to ten. I wish I would have lived in the moment as a preschooler instead of rushing ahead in my mind to kindergarten. But now, at the age of 23, I choose to listen to your wisdom and squeeze life out of every moment.

Week two of P90x was definitely encouraging. It is still extremely difficult, but I feel like I am getting stronger and increasing my endurance. I think Yoga x and Kenpo x are my favorite workouts. During my yoga workout, I sweat more than any other day… it requires so much focus, strength, and flexibility. Kenpo is a martial arts workout, and it is so fun! I took karate classes when I was a kid for a short time, and I have recently within the last year or so had a desire to try again. But then again…. I’ve also wanted to try hip hop, surfing, figure drawing, and watercolor….

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I get into phases…. like for example…

-the softball phase

-the music phase

-the swimming phase

-the collage phase

-the running phase

-the church phase

-the spanish phase

-the 17th century English literature phase

… and the list goes on…

I don’t know that it’s a bad thing. I just have multiple facets.

Well, tomorrow I have to open at the Bux, so I should settle in and get my day prepared for tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I need to do laundry… uggggg… I remember the good ol’ days when I put my dirty clothes in a hamper and then magically they would disappear and then reappear clean and neatly folded. I miss you, mom!

Today marks my eighth day in my P90x journey…. it has been tough and exhausting, but I can already feel the improvement in my body. Day five and six were by far the most painful- I was struggling even sitting down and getting back up again. But after day seven (which is an entire hour of just stretching), I felt ready to face the next week of intense workout. After that first week, I feel like I can’t give up on this thing. I really have to finish because if I don’t, all this sweat and pain is worthless. Finding an hour a day to workout has been easier than I thought it would be, especially because I am on the summer schedule for my kiddo job. I try to get my workout done in the mornings between jobs, but if I’m feeling really tired and just need to rest, I will save it for the evening time… which can be embarrassing when the roommates are home. One week down, eleven to go!

On Tuesday night, I went with three of my friends to see the midnight showing of Eclipse at the AMC Mercado IMAX. I am a big Twilight fan… haha, I seriously used to make fun of people like me and then I gave the books a chance and got hooked. I’m like a teenage girl when it comes to Twilight… seriously! We got to the theatre two hours early, and when our line was moving to get us seated in our theatre, we realized that we were missing one of our tickets. Talk about freak out. I even did a little trash diving… gross. Luckily we had the receipt and luckily the ticket taker was cool about it. The movie was really good; it followed the book really well. I crashed at about 3:30ish that morning and woke up the next day in time for work. What a night!

I didn’t do anything exceptionally exciting for the fourth of July mainly because I had to work… time and a half, baby! When I got off from the bux at 8:30, I went with a friend to a BBQ. The house where we went was the biggest, most beautiful house I have ever been inside…. I’m not a super materialistic person, but that house made me want to become one. It was HUGGGEEE complete with tennis courts, pool, basketball court, and personal gym. I was in awe.

I had today completely off from my jobs… BEAUTIFUL. I slept in and I woke up without the screech of my alarm clock (my favorite way to wake up). I decided right then that I was going to make the 45 odd minute drive to Capitola and spend the day at the beach. It was really sunny and beautiful in Santa Clara, but when I got to Capitola, it was overcast… minor disappointment. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on parking after I made my way weaving in and out of the charming beach town. I walked down to the beach, found a nice spot to relax, and enjoyed all the pure beauty that beaches have to offer. Happiness. I really enjoyed watching the surfers. One of these days (within the next year for sure), I am going to join their ranks- surfboard, wetsuit, board rack on my car, the whole nine yards.

I took some time and walked the streets of Capitola, window shopping, people watching. I saw more long boards and cruiser bikes than I could count. As I was walking around, I kept thinking how when I am free and have enough money to survive for a while, I’m going to take my money, pack up my life and move to a beach town. I could work at a quaint little coffee shop, or serve at a restaurant and spend my free time surfing and writing. What a lovely life.

Until then, I must get back to the grind…. tomorrow starts my work week with full force. It feels nice to have a goal that I’m working towards…. beach bum/surfer/writer…..

Ouuuuccccccchhhhhh!

My legs are in miserable pain right now….. roughly 9 hours after my first P90X workout…. wow, this is going to be the longest three months of my life.

I decided a few months ago that I really needed to focus on my health, not just a quick fix diet program, but rather an entire lifestyle change. I have been getting better at the food portion by making smarter choices when it comes to my diet. Through the process I have absolutely fallen in love with farmers’ markets. I find all of my produce there, and honestly, there is no comparison between farm fresh produce and the produce found in super markets. I remember my first visit to the Mountain View farmers’ market was a couple of weeks ago, and when I walked in, a strawberry was almost thrust into my hands. “Here, sample!” I must say, that that was the most flavorful strawberry that I’ve ever eaten. The flavors exploded in my mouth, and in that moment I found out what strawberries are supposed to taste like. I had the best time walking around, trying the different food, interacting with these farmers, and people watching. It was sensory overload at its finest.

The main problem I’m having is finding ways to cook great tasting meals on a limited time schedule with limited resources. I guess I could just sit down and take the time to search out easy recipes, create an ingredient list, and then just buy those foods that I need…. but I like to live on the edge. Procrastination is my mode of operation, for sure.

In my quest for a healthier body, I also saved up and purchased the P90X extreme home fitness program. A friend of mine did it and got in great shape, and I want to do the same. I am committed and focused on finishing because I need to get my body into shape, seriously. My first day of the program was today, and it was the most intense workout I’ve ever done. I was drenched in sweat by the end of my first session of “Core Synergistics.” When I was finished with the workout, I felt great and excited, but after sitting down for 20 minutes, I had a hard time getting up…. haha, my muscles were screaming at me…. and they still are.

I know the beginning is the hardest and that it will get easier and less painful. I also know that I will start seeing great results as the weeks go by…. but until then, I just want to cry and take a nice hot bath to relax those angry muscles.

Ok, ok…. I am finally updating….

The last few months have been crazy to say the least! A recent major life direction change has left me working an average of 80 hours a week, so on the days that I have some time for my self, I am usually in a sleep-deprivation induced coma. Sundays are typically my days off from all three of my jobs. They are sacred and beautiful to me. I love not having somewhere I have to be or something I have to do. Sundays are my freedom. Today, however, I picked up a short shift and Starbucks, so my day isn’t completely free. But any extra income will help my cause, and it will be fun to work with some of my coworkers that I don’t normally get to see.

The recent major life direction change that has put my life in a whirlwind? Well, basically I was given the opportunity to make a decent living doing what I love here in California…. and I accepted that opportunity. One day, I was talking with my boss at the after school program, and I said, “I love my work here so much that if I could make more money and have more hours, I would do this for the rest of my life.”

To that my boss replied, “You should apply for the assistant director position.”

I hadn’t even considered the possibility prior because I was so focused on going back to Colorado and starting a new life. The thought hit me, and I just took a chance and applied. They hired me to start with the title change and salary increase in August and increased my hours so that I could get hands on admin training before the official change takes place. I love working with children, and I am so excited that I get to make a career out of it. As soon as fall hits, I will be taking Child Development classes to get my permit with the state of California, and my long term goal is to get a degree (round 2) in Child and Adolescent Development.

When I was a child, I imagined life to be fairly predictable. I had a basic timeline of what I thought I would be doing at various stages of my life. But my life has been such a trip…. unpredictable and moving in so many different directions. I love my life because of that.

My life is really extraordinarily beautiful.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Last night, I stayed up way too late finishing an art piece (‘broKEn’), so consequently, I woke up later than I had planned on. I rushed around like crazy getting ready for work. I think next time I should just take a few breaths and calm down because rushing never pays off. It just makes me frantic and stressed out. When I got to work we continued to decorate the room before the kids got there. GREEN was EVERYWHERE! It was fantastic! We had several fun things planned for them, and it just turned out to be a great day…. other than the fact that one of the kids went crazy over a piece of plastic gold and ended up punching another kid in the face and whapping a different kid multiple times in the back with his green leprechan hat. That made for several fun conversations with the parents of all three of the kids.

“Hi _____, yeah, your child got punched in the face over a piece of plastic.”

“Ummm, listen, your child had a rough day, attacked two children, and needs to be picked up immediately.”

“So _____ was hit repeatedly with a leprechan hat….sorry about that one.”

Don’t worry everyone! We have these kids under control! Haha, riiiigggghhhhhttt I LOVE my job!

This is me experimenting further with acrylic paint and partial collage. I think the colors and brush strokes in contrast to the black and white text heart create an interesting effect. The actual size of this painting is 8″ x 10″, and it was done on stretched canvas.

I always feel so much better after talking to a good friend. They give me such strength and so much joy. I just chatted with one of my high school friends on the internet, and honestly, I just feel so much better about life. Nothing exceptionally exciting happened today. I’m having a hard time adjusting to the time change… losing an hour has just about wiped me out. It’s hard enough waking up at 3:30 am…. oh well, such is life. It seems like the rest of my city is having a hard time adjusting too because it was soooo slow at Sbux today. There was much thumb twiddling, and I even got sent home early (which was a pleasant surprise). I spent the in between time napping, and then I went off to job number two. We are getting the room all St. Patrick’s Day-ed out! Green, Leprechans, and a big pot-o-gold….

I have my green for tomorrow…. getting pinched by 60 kiddos is not my idea of fun.