Dear 2012

I thought I was going to write a letter to 2011, however, I am taking advice from "E" from the Incredibles:

"Never look back darling, it distracts from the now." Edna "E" Mode.

2012 You are all about the NOW. I learned about the now, and the power of living in it in 2011. I learned what it meant to commit to myself, and to my health. I learned what it means to be determined and committed vs attached. In 2011 I fell in love with myself again, which I needed. Now, looking out at a completely open future, there is no telling how awesome the years to come will be.

Proudest accomplishments of 2011:

1. I became committed to health. I started up with Advocare, joined Crossfit, started running again.

2. After several months being single, I opened up to dating again. Managed to be single the entire year which is actually quite the accomplishment. My partner became myself. My friendships. My fun.

3. I survived. In January, mom and I started a business. In June we closed it and our other business. Walking away was a huge challenge but at the same time it ended up being an open ending...and a new beginning for both of us. Mom is moved to Denmark and I am back in school.

4. I went back to school. My degree program is for Health Psychology and my plan is to go to Bastyr in 2012.

5. I went to England/France. During a business trip I managed to combine the trip with a trip to visit longtime friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was amazing.

6. I completed the Curriculum for Living with Landmark Education.

7. Most of all I feel better than I have ever felt in my life. Inside and out. Everything that I have done this year has been for my health, emotionally, physically, nutritionally....everything.

2011 in short: I chose to feel good. I stopped trying to impress other people. I found and am working towards my true passions. I did it.

Sooooo... for 2012. What is in store? Who knows exactly. I am committed to living in the now. I am committed to earning money and helping people transform their health habits through Advocare. I am committed to making serious gains in Crossfit. I am coaching SELP at Landmark in January. I am committed to HAVING FUN!! I am committed to writing more. My hope is that I make it to a place I have never been (maybe New York? maybe somewhere tropical?) Maybe there is love in 2012?

In the area of love, I have good feelings. Who knows what is in store, but the biggest shift within me is "not needing." But I plan on taking some risks, allowing myself to be vulnerable, walk on the edge, play with abandon, choose with no regret, and live like this is all there is...

So 2012, I look forward to all you have for me, whatever it is. Happy New Year!

Love Lina

Lift Big Eat Big: 10 Excuses For Not Exercising & Why They Are Horse...

Lift Big Eat Big: 10 Excuses For Not Exercising & Why They Are Horse...: Ahhh December. The month when everyone plans their New Year's resolutions that will last about 3 days. A lot of resolutions tend to focu...

Hey dude. You're Short.

I know I know... Short girl's shouldn't make fun of short guys. But here is the thing. I am not making fun of short guys. It's the guys who say they are 5'6" on their online dating profile, but when you meet up with them they are 5'2"... if that.

Here is the fact in the online dating world. PEOPLE LIE. Guys do it. Girls do it. It definitely isn't limited to one gender. They lie about anything from height/age/career...etc. They take pictures from snazzy angles to disguise the truth. Not everyone lies...but it's more common than not.

In my experience, I have been lied to on numerous occasions. It doesn't make me any less hopeful that one day I'll end up with an amazing guy... but it definitely gives me some perspective and a bit of a reality check that not everything is as it seems.

Meet match.com dude #1. He wasn't the first person I met from my online dating experience, but he was the first I went on more than one date with. 3 months into dating him, when we are out for drinks, he informs me that he has something to tell me.

"What is it?" I immediately start thinking of all the ugly possibilities here... he is married, or he has 15 children by 10 different ladies or both...Granted the influence of alcohol at the moment assisted in my imagination running wild.

He places his ID in front of me on the table. Then he places another one in front of me.

Really?? I've had at least 2 drinks...my limit on a date typically...and reading tiny numbers and letters on two near identical ID's to comprehend the differences is not something I was able to do.

"Just tell me what it is you need to tell me." My brain hurts just thinking of differentiating these two ID's.

"Well... I wanted to tell you that I am not 28." his facial expression read "please take pity on me."

"I never thought you were 28. Your online dating profile said you were 31." The fact that he didn't even remember how old he had originally SAID he was online didn't seem to resonate yet. "Ok, so how old are you?"

"I'm 43."

Wow. So, it's not that you subtracted 12 years of your existence on your profile, or that you couldn't remember whether you had said 28 or 31....but you made an ID? Interesting.

I won't bore you with the rest of the story...point is: he lied. In the moment, I was relieved that the other crazy stories I had come up with were not in fact the case. But this guy had completely justified his lie to himself and made it seem like it was completely OK.

Match dude #1 is not the only guy who I experienced lying about his age...There have been more...his story just happens to be the most extreme.

Now back to the guy who earned his way to the subject of my blog post. Hey dude. You're short. Nothing wrong with it. I don't hate short guys, but lying about it?? Like I am not going to find out? It's kind of like lying about having or not having eyes, or a head, or all limbs...cause I am sure enough going to find out the first time we meet. Do you think if you get your foot in the door, I'll excuse the lie about the height? Is that the thought process here? There is a huge difference in 5'6" vs 5'2". My favorite pair of heals adds at least 4 inches to my height, so I know what it feels like to see the world at 5'6", and it is a huge difference from 5'2". Even with your thick soled tennis shoes or boots with a little bit of a "man heal" your little white lie about your height is going to be noticeable the first time we meet. The funniest thing about this is that I have met at least 2 guys who have lied about their height online. Both said they were 5'6" and showed up being at least 5'2".

POINT #1 IS (for guys and gals): If you are genuinely trying to meet someone that you would like to possibly begin a friendship/relationship with, don't lie. Don't say you are slender if you aren't. Don't say you are athletic if you aren't. Don't say you are 31 if you aren't. Don't say you are 5'6" if you aren't.

POINT #2 IS: I recommend whenever you feel comfortable, to meet in person in a public place sooner rather than later. Who knows how much time you might be wasting on someone who may or may not be who they represent online. I always recommend daytime meetings too... and tell a couple friends where you are going and what you know about them. SAFETY FIRST!!

That's all folks... for now I pulled my online dating profile. Not because of short dude, but I am certain I will share more about my experiences soon in another post.

Rye Bread

This week I was determined to get to my favorite karaoke bar during the week... the crowd is completely different during the week than it is during the weekend. So a girlfriend of mine agreed to come up and meet me as well as some of my other karaoke friends.

The night is pretty chill, we were all able to sing a few times. By about 12 o'clock my girlfriend and I notice that there is this guy hanging around our little group... almost hovering. He isn't bad looking, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he is HOT. He didn't say anything at first, he just sipped his drink. A few minutes later he goes up to sing, and shocked all of us with his song choice. It was some Frankie Valli-ish song from the 60's. Now don't get me wrong, this guy was by no means thugish or anything, that wasn't why he shocked us. What shocked us was that at first he seemed really shy, but then when he got up on the stage and started singing his best falsetto that sounded as if he sings this song in the shower every day... we all did a double take and giggled. It just didn't seem like a song he would sing. WAY TO THROW US ALL OFF!! :-)

When he finished my girlfriend and I both told him he did well and surprised us with his song choice. He laughed and said he was happy about that.

We didn't pay this guy much attention after this, but he floated from group to group hoping to get in where he fit in. After his second song (Green Day this time) he mozied back up to the bar. This time he was a little bit more anxious to talk to us.... after all it was nearing closing time.

The first thing out of his mouth when he was trying to talk to me?

"I'm a baller."

Does that normally do it for you? Do you say this to girls and they are like swooning and drooling from their woman parts? Because for me that is just a HUGE turn off.

"That's too bad." I respond. Then he proceeds to tell me why he is a baller and tries to tell me what teams he has played on. I told him that didn't matter to me, and he was probably one of the shortest point guards I had ever met. (He had to be like 5'8".)

"My name is Ryan, but you can call me Ry."

HUH?? Cause Ryan is sooooo long that you feel the need to abreviate?

"Ok, so I will call you Rye...BREAD yes, your new name is Rye Bread." He didn't like this that much, but I didn't really care.

His conversation got a little less weird when he stopped trying too hard to impress me, and he said his hope was that he could convince all his friends to come to this little karaoke spot sometime. I told him that would be cool and it is definitely the best around and gave him my number for the off chance that he came down to Hula's again.

So the night ended, and my girlfriend drove me to my car. On the way home I got a call from an unknown local number. I answered, thinking maybe it was one of my friends stranded at Hula's. It wasn't. It was Rye Bread. Wow. I guess he couldn't wait to get his sleeze on...Some how, some way he started talking about sausage and tried to invite himself over to my house, at which point I hung up on him. He officially earned himself not one but two Datecon statuses in my book Stage 4 Clinger Status and Stage 5 Creeper Status. (I will have to break down these Datecon Statuses in another blog.)

So what does Rye Bread do? He called my girlfriend (or maybe he called her first...who knows.) In any case, he called me 4 times after that, all of which I ignored and he managed to text me a few more times. Wow... this guy is a real winner. Add him to the list of knuckledragger's who need extensive training.

It's Been a while...

Wow, it's been a while. I know some people who write through sadness and heartache and all that other stuff, but for me, I just need to feel it, get through it...and move on to whatever amazing adventure is next.

So what does that mean? Well...I am single, first of all. I am also 30, and amazingly enough feel younger then I did at 20-29. I feel better... and am more confident than ever before and have a really great feeling about the future, whatever it may hold.

One of the funniest events of recent occurred on the eve of my best friend Yael's 30th Birthday party at Munchbar in Bellevue. Dude (Anthony) a pretty juiced up Jersey boy, (go figure) whirls me around on the dance floor. We have a great time, we talk about what we do, and where we like to normally hang out. He asks if he can take me out sometime. Now considering this guy was incredibly attractive (even for a juiced up Jersey boy) and seemed somewhat normal (for a Jersey boy), I accepted and gave him my phone number. Almost 30 minutes after leaving Munchbar I start getting texts from him asking if I will come meet him for a drink...I say I will not...He kept asking and asking... and then followed with drunken propositions for the next day. I said I would have to see what my schedule looked like.

The next day was filled with "getting to know you texts..." it was fun, and interesting. He seemed to finally be sober and not just wanting to "hook up." Then later, he says "I don't want to come off as a player but.... I would really like to see you and just cuddle." REALLY??!! Did you just basically tell me that you are a player??? Mark that down as a YES test proctor! By telling me you are not a player, it is my perception and my experience that you are in fact trying to bag every girl you come into close contact with and therefore a PLAYER! Good luck with that buddy. End text.

That was the end of Jersey Boy Anthony.

This summer (if it ever arrives) will be a total blow out of blogging... this summer is going to be fun, and packed with laugh out loud moments that will entertain all of us... so stay tuned. It's about to get bumpy! I will be out and about in Seattle/Bellevue or wherever, with my list of approved crappy pick up lines. Let's see what kind of gloriousness ensues.