vogue

In the eternal quest of skinny, I broke down and joined the overpriced Y. I've been going to the rec center because it is way cheaper but they don't have classes and I can only run on the treadmill so long before wanting to throw myself through the glass windows. So, I joined the Y and being off for the summer, I have started going to day classes with the senior citizen retirees and stay-at-home Moms. With this new gym membership I was hoping to gain some muscles and lose pounds but as in most things in life I gained more than I expected! Maybe not gained...learned. Being a lifetime learner (teacher nerd!) I like to think I am observant (stalker) and what have I observed?! I am SO out of style, lame, and not with the cool kids in the gym crowd. Who are these cool kids you may ask? I present to you...the hot Mom/Grandma. Not that I am sure all of these women actually have offspring but...all I do know is that they are hot and they have a better gym wardrobe than I have just regular wardrobe. I thought I tried to keep it cool. Might throw on a color coordinated sports bra if it can be seen near my neck that matches a color on my tshirt but that is SO 2005. Today I went to spinning and yoga and was literally the only person there wearing a tshirt. Everyone was rocking their perfectly coordinated gym attire. Ugh, I mean I know I don't have to wear what everyone else is wearing and I don't consider myself a follower but I do hate that feeling that I am the dirty/not cool/poor/unstylish/suburbia failure. Here I was proud to actually be at the overpriced gym but now I need a cute, overpriced wardrobe to sweat in? I spent most of yoga thinking about their perfectly planned outfits and how the world's problems were really their fault when it hit me. These ladies were kicking my butt. 50 year old's were hoisting their entire bodies onto their elbows...THEIR ELBOWS. The instructor nonchalantly gave insane directions like, "bring your knee as close to your ear as possible " just as calmly as one would say, "today is Friday." Really not following the yoga mantra, I don't even play like I'm scanning, I straight up stare at these women in all their glory and debate whether they are real people or some kind of circus act and I am on some new reality show. Apparently they were method actors or legit because they never budged. Toward the end of the class, the instructor was wanting us to do some form of a human pretzel all to the left side of our body, I sat Indian style for a minute, bewildered because everyone in the class seemed to think this was totally normal and my geometry challenged brain could not fathom how to begin making my body do this strange requests. And then it hit me... I guess clothes make the...man, no gym guru. I always hear, "dress for the job you want" and "dress how you want to feel" so maybe..."dress for your desired state of hotness that you want to occur after many hours of sweating at the gym"?? Think it will catch on?

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Career confusion

So continuing with my quarter life crisis theme lately I have been career confused and attempting to find the career that best suits my creative side and comes with a paycheck. This is no easy task. I have been racking my brain attempting to find what would a person with a master's degree in music be good at. Over Memorial Day I thought I found it. I was lucky enough to travel back to Nashville to visit my family. Brother Ben has been continuing his healthy lifestyle and taken up yoga more seriously and I went with him to a couple of classes and thought I found my calling. No not a yoga instructor, but the ladies that go to yoga had me filled with jealousy. These beautiful Brentwood house moms could do things with their bodies that were truly amazing. I'm talking a lady in her fifties could lift her entire body with her arms into some sort of a handstand but instead of keeping her legs strait they were bent like still in Indian style. Honestly, kind of circus folkesque, however much more than this twenty something could even dream of doing. Oh, and let us not forget the clothes. These yoga masters were dressed head to toe in the cutest matching fashions. Cute little yoga pants with teal accents matched the sleeveless black top occurred again and again with varying accent colors. They all looked so accidentally cute, you know when you're going out to the store and you're in a hurry but your clothes and make up correspond just so and you look accidentally adorable. Instead of meditating about peace and whatever else you're supposed to think about during the last five minutes, I kept pondering about how I could achieve this lifestyle sans the children. How wonderful would it be to have the time to go to classes during the day wearing adorable clothes and getting to be friends with other beautiful ladies who also have the same calling. Of course the problem comes that I lack one interest that these ladies seem to enjoy...children. Err. I really want all of the perks of their lives except with out the burdens of those little things that never seem to go away. If one had kids, how could they go to lunch, yoga, shopping, spa, and all of the other important social commitments that comes with being the ideal career. And furthermore, kids are a ton of work, they are the job and the whole point of being a yoga lady is to have time to do stuff that is not work related. Minus the part about how I could make this happen because of a severe lack of funds, I thought I had my new and wonderful life plan figured out.

And then I woke up. Summer is here and I am enjoying sleeping later than 5:15am but I feel totally worthless not working. One would think I would be celebrating daily because I get paid during the summer but I feel lazy. Really, I haven't been lazy at all. My days have been pretty busy actually. Applying for jobs can be like an entirely new job, getting the new house up to my liking has me feeling like Martha Stewart who is never bored so yes I am busy but I oddly miss going to work. So snap, the career of being a stay-at-home person is no longer an option (never really was a practical option, but now it's not even a fantasy).

So what to do? Apply for jobs. Lots of jobs. Yes that's it. I have a Master's Degree, work experience, great references, this should be great. Oh wait, our economy is in the toilet and being very qualified is now too qualified. I recently received a rejection letter that said I was not qualified for the position even though it only required a HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA and like stated previously, I have a Master's Degree. But, we should keep our head up right? I have applied for what seems like thousands of jobs in the hope that the perfect fit (or the job with a paycheck and insurance) will come my way and I will be most grateful. Keep me in your prayers and I will keep you posted.

Well I have much more to update but I am going to write a new cover letter. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and I will post again soon about the terrible driving and fashion I have experienced over this week in Arkansas. Holy Lord. For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.