Muldoon Memos

A non-insured driver rear-ended me the first week of August and totaled out my Civic. Thankfully I had insurance (even though now my rates will go up, we had to pay our $500 deductible, it was a freakin hassle to get a new car RIGHT as I was starting school, and we now have an additional car payment...). But we're all safe. We upgraded to a 2012 Nissan Rogue which actually has room for our double stroller or other larger objects, so it's all good. (We had a fantastic experience at CarMax, btw.) I'm listening to Home Front by Kristin Hannah and I hate it, but I don't have another audio book at the moment so I'm sludging through it. The Girl Before, however, was good! I'd recommend that one. Over the summer I developed a really bad habit of buying some unnecessary treat every day (fountain pops, iced coffee, an ice cream cone, etc.) and now every day when I leave school I want to get something... but our budget really can't afford that right now with t

I lead a REbeL chapter at my school, which is a club that helps high schoolers "change society's definition of beauty" because "every body is beautiful." At our weekly meetings we discuss the way media thinks we should look, societal trends, eating disorders, mindful eating, healthy exercise, self-esteem, etc. And even though I'm hopefully helping students become more accepting of their bodies, I quickly realized I was in a weird relationship with my own. So, this past year I've been reflecting on how I approach eating, working out, body image, self-esteem, etc. with more mindfulness than before in hopes of figuring out just what does and doesn't work for me. and what have I learned? I need only to listen to my own body.  I will gobble up desserts all day long (cookies, brownies, ice cream, yum!), but otherwise I eat a balanced variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Instead of eating based on outside cues (time of day, seeing a