here's to a healthy lifestyle

1. started the job search today! i hope i can actually find one that i like and can keep for awhile--i'm definitely willing to work during the school year and during the summer. 
2. of course i did not paint my nails today. i'm the worst with manicures. they NEVER last and i ALWAYS chip the polish off. oh well...
3. one week until my birthday! a little under two weeks until my boyfriend comes and little over two weeks until i'm going home! cannot wait. 

i'm all out of post ideas! isn't that lame? yes, very lame. exercise! that's a new topic, right? this blogging for 365 days thing is harder than i expected. "exercise gives you endorphins. endorphins make you happy. happy people just don't shoot their husbands...they just don't!" thank you, elle woods (legally blonde). but really, she's right. exercise releases chemicals in the brain (endorphins among them) that help boost mood. all the more reason to exercise, right? then why are approximately 1/4 people in america classified as "obese?" isn't that a terrifying number?! "overweight" is usually ten or more pounds heavier than what is expected for one's height; "obese" is 30 or more pounds overweight. terms are thrown around all the time and nutrition and exercise and supplements all comprise a huge industry in this country. again, i ask, why are so many people overweight and obese? because people aren't properly educated about health and fitness. it's a depressing thing, really, and an issue that needs to be addressed immediately (along with all the other depressing and pressing issues). but solving the problems of health and fitness will address a lot of other issues too: mental health, lifetime expectancy, prevalence of heart disease/diabetes/some cancers/etc., health care costs, relationship satisfaction, and many more. the abundance of information out there is obviously not addressing the mass public in effective ways. so much of the dieting advice is crap, and what's good is hard to stick to so people give up. on top of poor dieting techniques, a lot of people don't workout regularly, don't work out enough, and don't work out properly. these problems combined with a general laziness that pervades the american consciousness results in a fatter public. i'm not guilt-free from all these problems i'm mentioning, by the way. but i was lucky enough to be raised by two parents who care about health and fitness and they passed good advice onto their children. but i'm just as guilty as the next person about some of these things (everyone is guilty to some extent--no one, NO ONE is perfect). i was channel surfing tonight and ran across kourtney and khloe take miami about two of the kardashian sisters. kourtney had recently had a baby and was trying to get back in shape for a cover bathing suit photo shoot. she was saying how she wanted to show moms everywhere that it was possible to be healthy and get the pre-baby body soon after delivery, but then she was working out three times a day trying to get that body. she forced her body into exhaustion and had to go to the hospital and was also neglecting her job, her baby, and her family. now, i don't know about you, but that schedule doesn't sound really practical or applicable to "real world" moms. my point with this tangent is that everyone has to work for their idea of the perfect body and everyone has to work to be healthy. so it's not easy but it's certainly worth it. there are so many aspects of psychology i'd love to study and to preach about, and this is definitely one of them--health psychology. but i do study health risk behaviors and eating/exercise patterns are included in that. to health!