The Olympics always make me wish I was the best in the world at something. And then I remember my ability to eat obscene amounts of candy and ice cream on a daily basis.

In a moment of impressive domestic accomplishment, I went grocery shopping today.

Phone conversation:
Me: Dude, I went grocery shopping and didn't buy any candy, fruit snacks, or frozen meals.
Stephen: What the hell did you buy?

True answer: not much. But walking past the candy aisle scotch-free makes me feel like I'm either some sort of all-powerful being or, like, I don't know, 23 years old.

In another domestic feat, I did a ton of laundry today while watching the Olympics, including my towels and sheets, and came to the conclusion that putting a fitted sheet on a mattress in 30 minutes or less without falling over should totally be an Olympic event. Bonus points if when you're finished it doesn't look like an absolute wrinkly mess.

But seriously - I love the Olympics! Watched a lot of swimming and synchronized diving today, which are super fun sports to watch once every four years. So that's convenient.

I can't wait to get into track and gymnastics. But my absolute favorite this year is women's indoor volleyball because my friend from high school, Christa Harmotto made the team - and did awesome yesterday in a win over South Korea! I "played" volleyball my freshman and sophomore years of high school, and when I was a sophomore, she was a senior and led our team to a Pennsylvania state championship!

She and my twin sister were our starting middles and I kept their blocking stats from the bench! I still made it on the front page of the sports section the next day, blowing celebratory bubbles. HOLLER AT ME.

But seriously, she's such a great person and it's awesome to see great things happen to great people - so everyone cheer on USA Women's Volleyball!

Also, celebrate the fact that you are not representing your county in a high-pressure athletic competition by continuing to eat dessert :)

In my younger and more vulnerable years

I'm going to try this new thing where I'm going to start enjoying my days. Not just my weekends. Not just the bars on Friday nights, yoga on Saturday morning, Church on Sunday morning, and sand volleyball games on Sunday evenings. Basically, I'm hoping to make it so I'm happy in a more consistent way - not just in the designated times that I block off my schedule to "have fun" or "be social."

To make stride towards doing this, I have one first step: start obeying random signs hanging in my apartment. Namely, this one:

I know most of you probably read the first paragraph and had one take away -- "you do yoga?" I know, a weird image for my PA friends who never saw me workout in a form that didn't involve lifting weights, running, or elbowing somene in the face for a rebound. Also, I admittedly am not the most coordinated of humans. But, yes, I found this great *free* yoga on Saturday mornings here in Madison that I really enjoy. (True story: bought $100 yoga pants (prior to ever doing yoga), forced myself to go to free yoga at store location to compensate for ridiculous pant price, now - I basically look like this:)

It's kind of a cool concept to workout in a non-competitve way. Never tried it until this year. Who would have guessed working out is more fun when you're not getting screamed at.

Back to my new "action plan" (if I must use terrible project manager terms in everyday blogging...) - basically, the concept hit me a couple weeks ago at work. I was on-site at a customer. Which is par for the course these days. (I essentially "weekend" in Madison.)

One of my analysts, who's hardworking, and probably about 40 years older than me said, "You know, I try to work hard, and I work a lot, but everyone keeps telling me the same thing. No one goes to the grave and says to themselves 'I wish I would have worked more.'"

On that note, and right before a very important meeting with high-level executives - we decided it was time to go out to lunch and dessert:

The meeting went well. I doubt I'll remember the contents of the meeting a year from now. I will remember the charming gelato place in Chicago and the importance of valuing how you use your time.

One Year

I'm lying on a king size bed in a Chicago hotel room, and I have to choose between doing my one year self-review or taking a shower. I thought it was a good chance to blog.

This is the longest I've gone without blogging a post since the inception of Rejoyce in January of 2010. I'd start talking about why I didn't blog (i.e. too many work trips), but a Whitney Houston song came on my Pandora about 10 minutes ago, and I swear, you guys, I almost started crying. And I don't even know why. I'm not even sad. Especially considering the new lululemon yoga pants I bought today. Regardless, I need to start injecting testosterone. But then those pants might not fit right.

Fortunately, I was reading through hilarious tweets when the late Whitney started singing her heart out, so I dodged that bullet. Nothing quite says "pathetic" like crying while scrolling endlessly through twitter, listening to sappy Pandora lying in a bed covered in the crumbs of Cheddar Harvest Sun Chips.

Thankfully, I didn't cry, so my situation now seems quite glamorous.

For those of you who read "lying on a king size bed in a Chicago hotel room" in the first sentence and didn't assume I was eating, congratulations on never having hung out with me.

It's hard to sum up my life in the last few months, so I'm going to do it in a super positive way, because I'm pretty much a ray of sunshine:

Accomplishments Since May 1:

1. Had an awesome vacation with my family in Wisconsin - and only suffered minor zip lining injuries!

2. Did NOT ruin the surprise when I went to the beach with Stephen's family and his beautiful sister Becky got engaged! (Check her super cute fashion blog here)

3.  Attended my first wedding in Des Moines as a *plus one* and wasn't even asked if I was a lesbian. (Though my date was asked once, I'm sure on my behalf)

4. Went boating on a boat that doesn't have a working motor.

I hope that all of you are enjoying your summers! I'm going to try to blog more, as I miss it, and it helps me put things into perspective :) I know some people can't see the forest through the trees, but I've been known to obsess over leaves and twigs.

For those of you who have been lacking reading material due to my lack of posts, I recommend Divergent for all young adult fans...very good! (If you like Katniss, you'll love Tris!)

Also, I just began re-reading The Great Gatsby and I think I'm falling in love with every sentence. That's the type of book that made me major in English (Despite my Elvish Writing's professor's beliefs, it was not The Canterbury Tales.) I highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't read it (it's much better when they're not forcing you to read it in high school, I promise) ...also, the movie's coming out in December, with Leo as the starring role!

My first ever Rejoyce post post was ended with a quote, as was my one year anniversary post ... so might as well end my one-year work anniversary with a quote as well:

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - F. Scott Fitzgerald.