My name is Tierra…

Which friendships are worth saving? The ones you’ve had for years? Professional friendships?

I’m going through an issue with someone who used to be my really good friend in high school. After high school, we went to different colleges and naturally grew a little distant. Fast forward five years and we live on separate coasts and maybe see each other once a year. That person isn’t friends with any of my other friends and we don’t talk regularly. Is it a friendship worth saving?

Anyone who knows me well enough will tell you that I am not the person who is constantly going to reach out to make a friendship work. Quite frankly, I have several other friends who don’t need the constantly catering to and have accepted my style of friendship. Am I in the wrong?

I’ve never really lost a “good” friend before. I live the mantra that people change and friends change. But loosing this friendship somewhat bothers me. I know this person and I will most likely never have the relationship we did in high school and I’m okay with that. But am I okay with completely losing this relationship or just treading water with this person when I never really talk to them?

I live a very busy life. Between working 40 hours a week, going to class 3 nights a week, soccer, and soon softball, I have hardly any time to myself. Last Christmas, I was at home and saw a few pictures of myself and decided I looked horrible and needed to seriously shed some of my “campaign” weight. Now I know I’ve written blog posts about me wanting to lose weight in the past and then never really followed up on them but in January I was serious about losing weight.

January 1, I weighed in at 158 lbs. For being 5’4″, my BMI considered me obese at a rating of 26. (lol) Healthy is considered to be 19-24. Now it’s no secret, I carry a good chunk of this weight up top. (insert big breasted blonde joke here) To kick off my weight loss, I decided to do this 21 day cleanse. It was basically a vegan/vegetarian diet that prohibited dairy, alcohol, and meat. After day 11, you could consume chicken but in small quantities. You don’t really know how much you mix meat and dairy until you do two things: 1. Travel to Israel (which I did in May/June 2010) and 2. When you go on this cleanse. I genuinely struggled being on the cleanse the first week. I love vegetables but have always seen them as a component to my plate, not the main course.

After a week of being on the cleanse, I lost 3 lbs. It was advised not to exercise too much because of your body adjusting to the new lifestyle. At times, I felt light headed, so the last thing I needed to do was run. When I finished the cleanse, I was down 7 pounds. Arguably, some of this could have been water weight but nonetheless, it served as a good foundation for kick starting an exercise routine.

Nearly 4 months later, I’m down 16 pounds weighing in at 142. I would contribute the weight loss to high interval training at the gym. I primarily use the Nike Training App on my iPhone. It has several 30-45 minute, full body work outs. By the end of each routine, I am drenched in sweat. I highly recommend it for anyone who has an iPhone and can be committed to working out.

While 16 pounds in 4 months may not sound like a lot, for my height and frame, it’s a good start. In addition, I have acquire quite a bit of muscle mass. It is a constant struggle to maintain my weight because I do consider myself a food addict. Not to mention, I have been know to have a beverage or two on the weekends. With hitting the gym 6 days a week sometimes as late as 10:30 at night, on top of my already ridiculous schedule, I think I can lose another 5 pounds before my cruise in mid May.

I don’t necessarily have an end goal in mind. I don’t think people should strive to be rail thin. This journey has truly been a lifestyle change. Everything I consume, I look at it from a caloric stand point. I try not to eat bad and then justify it with going to the gym later. Once I feel like I am at a healthy weight, I will post before and after pictures. Bikini season is right around the corner and this year I won’t be ashamed of showing off my body.

-Tierra

1. Resumes should be one page. Whoever told you they should be longer is an idiot. Manipulate the margins and the headers and footers and make it one page. Do not list references as they take up valuable space. If an employer wants references, they will ask. Trust me. I will happily critique anyone’s resume as I get about 5 of them a day in my office.

2. If you’re going to post on my blog, don’t hide behind anonymity. If you can’t stand behind your comments, you probably don’t know what you’re talking about.

3. Mob mentality in Disneyland is INSANE. Parents, listen up. This one is for you. When it’s 10 pm and your child is asleep in the stroller, it’s probably a good sign that you should GO HOME and put them to bed. I understand Disneyland is expensive and you want to maximize your trip but being at theme park for upwards of 12+ hours is a little ridiculous with small children.

3. a. Continuing with the mob mentality, when a ride closes for mechanical issues, CHILL OUT. I’d rather have them fix it and wait a little longer than die.

More to be written later…

Well it’s about that time again where ballots need to be cast in a general election. Below I’ve pasted my thoughts on who you should for vote as a California voter. While there is an obvious bias, my reasoning justifies my decision.
U.S. Senate
Carly Fiorina – It’s time to retire that old bag Boxer who is nothing short of liberal career politician with no intention of fixing the state deficit.

U.S. House of Rep’s, 49th District
Darrell Issa – Solid leadership who has held the Democrats feet to the fire as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee

Governor
Meg Whitman- We’ve been under Brown’s leadership before and while history always repeats itself, his ship has sailed along with his failed policies.

Lt. Governor
Abel Maldonado- This is strictly a party line vote. I’m not a huge fan of Abel, especially since he pulled that shennagan vote a few years back.

Secretary of State
Damon Dunn- Another party line vote.

Controller
Tony Strickland- And another party line vote.

Treasurer
Senator Mimi Walters- I like Mimi. She’s kinda everything I want to be when I grow up.

Attorney General
Steve Cooley- Party line vote.

Insurance Commissioner
Mike Villines- Party line vote.

State Assembly, 73rd District
Diane L. Harkey- Another great woman leader.

Oceanside City Council-
Jerry Kern – blah. I’m not going to get into these reasons.
Gary Feilen

OUSD
Emily Wichmann

State Props
NO on- 19, 21, 24,25, and 27. Most of these drastically increase taxes in a tax that is already overtaxed.
YES on 20 and 26. Redistricting needs to happen and a super majority should be needed to overturn legislation.

I’m neutral on 22. I’d probably end up voting yes. Prop 23 is somewhat of a tricky one for me. I believe a cap and trade system needs to be in place but I’m not sure at what cost. We are destroying our environment by not capping emissions and there is profit to be made by private companies who produce solar panels and other energy efficient materials. I’d probably vote against party line and vote NO on 23 only after I read the cost implication for taxpayers.

County Prop
Yes on A

I also don’t care much for the County Offices up for election. I don’t know enough about them to vote. I’d probably either leave them blank or vote party line.

Well there you have. My official voting guide for the General Election on November 2nd. Happy voting folks!

This is almost difficult to watch. And yes, he was running as a Republican. I’m not proud.

Soooo since I’m on track to write maybe 10 posts this entire year, I guess it would be appropriate to recap the last few months.

1. Went to Israel in May. Friggen amazing. I was born in the wrong country.

2. Went to Nashville for a wedding. BBQ was delicious.

3. Went to Belgium. The waffles were aight.

4. Went to Berlin. Friggen amazing club scene!

5. Started my MBA program. I thought it was kicking my ass until I got a 96% on my accounting midterm. Yeehaw!

6. Went to Boston. Lost my purse. Kept my dignity.

7. Joined a Fantasy Football team. Two actually. I’m 2-2 in one league and 0-4 in another, yet have the second highest points in both. Mind boggling.

8. I’m going to Vegas at the end of the month for the election.

9. I’m going to New Orleans in November.

10. I’m coming home for Christmas.

I’m a negligent blogger. I’ve gotten so bad at updating this that I almost dread it.

Cubby and Daisy

The puppies!

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona boardwalk.

Churros con chocolate in Madrid

Phone banking at the NRCC

California palm trees

Yum.

Jerusalem

The Sea of Galilee

Hottie on the Hill

The Man.

I guess it’s legal to buy fireworks in Virginia. NOT in California!

My MJ tribute

Reagan-my new ride.

Skeet shooting on the 4th of July

Happy 234th Birthday America!

So a few months ago I wrote a blog about the 10 feet of snow we received. Well now it’s 102 in DC and quite frankly, I’m over it. I don’t live in Phoenix for a reason. Not to mention, there is this thing called humidity where sweating in the shade is normal.

Not a fan. Not a fan at all.

Story here.

3 months since my last update? Does that sound familiar?

Where to start?

California?

Israel?

Summer funtivities?

Ridiculous political rantings?

Hm…Let’s just start somewhere around April. I don’t think anything important happened that month…except Luis turning 24 and me being the best girlfriend ever and buying him a 32 gb iPad. Yes folks, not just the 16, but the 32. I ball hard.

I don’t think anything else super important happened in April. I finished chapter 1 of my thesis…but yeah…nothing else.

MAY

May was a busy month. First, I finished up the spring semester. I procrastinated most of the semester so the bulk of the work came down to the final 3 weeks. It’s done and over with and I finished with flying colors!

Mid May, I went to California to visit my mother for her birthday. And because my drunk ass lost my drivers license in March and I was tired of carrying around my passport. The visit was splendid. I saw all my friends (I think). Ate copious amounts of REAL Mexican food and even sunned myself at the beach.

Late May I jetsetted to Israel–one of the most amazing countries on earth. I was basically sponsored to go so the only thing I paid for was souvenirs and the occasional night cap at the local watering hole. I spent 10 days, 5 of which in Jerusalem, touring the country and learning about the threats Israeli’s face from not only the neighbors to the North, South, East, and West but also the threats inside their own country. I’m not going to go into a long political rant about the Left and their crazy favoring of the Palestinians but the media is definitely not accurately portraying what the Israeli’s are trying to work towards with the Palestinians. Don’t ever get my started on the Flotilla incident either. We arrived in Israel that day it happened so security was tight, to say the least. If America wants to build a fence, they should hire the Israelis!

JUNE

I get back from Israel to jump right back into the grind with work and summer school. I put on this amazing banquet for work where we had Karl Rove, Rep. Paul Ryan, Rep. Aaron Schock, Morton Blackwell, and several other notable leaders in the conservative movement attend and give speeches. It was the inaugural summer banquet and with the success of this past one, I am confident next years will be even better.

Since the banquet, I am just been extremely busy with this godforsaken online class on national security. I wanted to have a semi relaxed summer so I opted for an online class. Huge mistake. I will have transcribed so much by the time this class is over, I could have written my thesis on national security strategy. Insane.

I also bought Reagan–my new car. It’s fully loaded…nav, heated/cooled seats/ white exterior (of course), black/sterling interior, and rides like a magic carpet. I could not be more pleased.

JULY

So the 4th of July just passed and I had a fantastic weekend. I can’t remember Friday so it must have not been spectacular. Saturday I went to a party for a new employee and we wondered over to Capitol Hill for a late night drink and grill cheese sandwich. Sunday, I went to this conservative soiree where there was pulled pork, blue grass music, snow cones, kickball, and a petting zoo. After the BBQ, we went skeet shooting where I successfully hit 13 out of 50 clays. Considering I have not shot a gun since I was probably about 8, this was regarded as a major success for me. Afterwards, we watched the fireworks on the National Mall, something I’ve never done before and of course, wondered to a bar to bullshit and eat. Today has been dubbed a “homework day” as I have been playing catch up from the weekend.

Pictures you ask? Most of my pictures are on facebook. I deleted my Flickr account because I couldn’t sensor my name and pictures from coming up on google. Sounds petty but I don’t need the world googling my name and seeing me drunk in Vegas. Or at the hospital with stitches in my head from St. Patrick’s Day because I was drunk.

Speaking of alcohol, I have decided to take a sabbatical from drinking. Maybe not a real sabbatical but I’ve cut back drastically to how much I drink. I practically don’t really drink anymore, with the exception of a Smirnoff Ice here and there. Or when Luis takes pity on me at the bar and buys me a Long Island. While the days of being a lush were fun and filled with great memories, being a lush really counters the progress I make at boxing. So for now, toodaloo alcohol!

Now the rest of the summer–

Next weekend, I’m going to a wedding in Nashville–yeehaw! My friend Luke is getting married on the steps of the state capitol, which for us political nerds, sounds friggen amazing! At the end of the month, I’ll be in Belgium and Germany for a week for school, which I’m super excited for. In August, Eddie and Yvone come to town with Chris Walker and we are going to hit the Big Apple up. Come September, I’ll be experiencing my quarter life crisis and will be celebrating it in Boston with Miss Ashley Jackson and company. September on- taking back Congress one seat at a time!