Before I get in deeper with Operation: Smiles, I thought I should share a bit of background info to help it all make sense!
Operation: Smiles is a healthy living blog that touches on happiness and health. The ultimate goal of O:S is to positively influence and motivate the writer and readers to lead full, healthy, and happy lives.
Ok, now let me tell you a bit about myself. Until two years ago, I was very involved in figure skating and synchronized skating. This meant practicing 5 to 8 times per week (and these practices were quite INTENSE! Especially around competition season), which meant that I could eat whatever and whenever I wanted!
Once I graduated from my undergrad and had my first "real" job, I realized I wouldn't have the time to commit to the practices so I didn't try out for the team. Transitioning from having practices scheduled by my coaches and managers to having to work out on my own time was a challange, but I had just gotten engaged and was planning a wedding about 10 months down the road so I had plenty of motivation to stay active and fit. Another challenge was going from being part of a team of girls that became such great friends over the years, to not seeing them as regularly.
Only a month and a half before our wedding, I had some really personal struggles with a close family member and my entire life turned upside down. With the wedding a month away, I stayed the course and put up a pretty stable face with the help of my AMAZING family and my husband, but fiance at the time, Michael. That bend in the road didn't really stop anything, with the exception of my regular pilates classes (which I LOVED and still miss to this day!). I started biking to work (about 30 minutes each way) so I maintained my fitness level and was never really concerned about my physical health or fitness level (for vanity) for the wedding.
After the wedding, I moved to a different city about an hour and a half away from where I lived before. I quit my job because I planned to start grad school in the fall and that job wasn't worth the commute. It was a really big deal for me -- moving away from the city where all my family live (which you'll notice, is a really big part of my life), my friends live, my job was, my usual grocery store, Starbucks, and the rest.
I was really excited to move in with Michael but that summer was the worst ever -- with the exception of our fabulous wedding and amazing honeymoon!
Google Maps saved my butt a million times when I first moved, and I hated that! I felt like I need to have a certain level of familiarity about where I live, or at least have friends nearby! Before moving, I expected myself to adjust to change much better than I apparently do. I fell into a deep hole of negativity and wasn't even looking for a way out of the hole.
We were married on June 14, 2008 and I had to wait until September to start grad school... what to do, what to do? After getting set up, writing a million thank you cards for our wedding guests, and twiddling my thumbs for weeks, I decided I couldn't take the loneliness and boredom. With a gym membership and a gym nearby, I barely made any attempts to be active... I just sat around, which is VERY not like me.
To make a long story short, I got off my butt and found a silly job just to get out of the house and to have human interaction. This was a big help! And a month later, I started grad school which was such a great and challenging experience. I have made great friendships with a few of my classmates, and have landed the absolute IDEAL job as a graduate of my program.
Looking back, I realise how negative I was when I wasn't in my ideal situation. I didn't adapt well to change, and was a total Debbie Downer for months!
I have now made a conscious effort to be responsible for my own happiness.
I have learned that I'm most happy when I'm feeling good about myself (physically and mentally), I'm contributing to society, I'm interacting with people, and I maintain strong relationships with Michael and my family.
Since I reacted so negatively to change, I have challenged myself to embrace change. I know it's just a silly vain girl thing, but I drastically changed my hair over the last year just to challenge myself. I'm naturally blonde, but always had highlights so it looked lighter. Now, I'm sporting a little brown bob and I love it!
Step 1,2, and 3 of transforming my coif:
Changing my hair, and ultimately my "look," has certainly challenged me to be more adaptible.
This is just one example of a challenge, but I hope to host more challenges on O:S about a bunch of different topics like challenging yourself to try new foods, wear different styles of clothing, shop at a different grocery store than your "usual," try a new workout, be more financially responsible, and the list goes on!
Through Operation: Smiles, if I can help just one person smile more often, then my job is complete!
Now just a few interesting tidbits:
Age: 24
Married: YES! To the best hubby ever, Michael
Location: Ontario, Canada EH!
Family: I'm SUPER close with my family, and I take my Auntie Carla duties VERY seriously! :)
Siblings: I'm the middle child -- it's soooo not true what they say about the middle child... ;) My sister is my absolute best friend and my younger brother is amazing! As of right now, he is in Afghanistan as a Canadian soldier but his tour is over in 2 weeks (THANK goodness!).
Work: I work at a public relations agency, and have awesome clients and even more awesome colleagues! I love love LOVE my job and feel so lucky to have gotten hired in this economy!
Food: I really enjoy cooking (A LOT), especially healthy foods. Since starting my new job about 6 months ago, I haven't been cooking as much as I would like to because I have a 4 hour commute round trip. We'll be moving soon, and I have a TON of recipes and dishes that I'm dying to try out! I'm not a vegetarian, altough I make a conscious effort to eat meat only once a week.
Wants to try: speedskating, making my own wheatgrass juice, Angela's Glo Bars, making lasagna from scratch, blogging ;), and the list goes on!
Loves: (in no particular order) staying active, Michael, eating well, my family, Lululemon, Starbucks skinny vanilla lattes, the French language, clean laundry, my wedding rings, freshly painted toe nails, food blogs, magazines, and I'll be here all night if I just keep going... :)
Positively yours,
Carla
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