Channeling My Inner SunShine

Those of you who know me well know that I love TV, especially reality TV. One of the show’s on the top of my MUST WATCH list is “The Biggest Loser.” The show takes severely overweight contestants and gives them medical advice, nutritional advice and two no-nonsense Personal Trainers. The contestants compete against each other in physical and temptation challenges each week, but the main challenge is to lose weight. Each week the contestants are weighed and the people with the lowest percentage of weight loss are sent home. The show is often faulted for bring somewhat unrealistic, because 99.99% of people trying to lose weight do not get to do so in this “failing is not an option” circumstance with all of these amazing resources. I however, think it is amazing. It gives this handful of people the opportunity to change their lives and for many of them save their lives, while inspiring others. This show truly is inspiring and motivating. Watching the mentally, physically and emotionally grueling things these people are put through really proves you can achieve anything if you work hard enough.

My favorite contestant of all time is on this current season’s show, her name is SunShine. She came on the show with her father O’Neal. As the two biggest members of their family, SunShine and O’Neal have a special bond, one that enables both of them and caused them to become extremely unhealthy. SIDEBAR: They’re from Minneapolis which makes me love them even more! SunShine is 24 years-old (just one year younger than me) she has never had a boyfriend, never been kissed and has never felt good about herself. Watching her on this Biggest Loser journey has been truly inspirational. She has lost 80 pounds in 12 weeks, but the real changes are emotional. She had a tough conversation with her dad this past episode telling him that he can finally let go; that she is, for the first time in her life, truly happy and that she is finally realizing and feeling like she is beautiful. Talk about water works, I was crying like a baby. But what truly inspires me is her determination, she came to the show to lose weight, become healthy and change her life and she is not going to leave without accomplishing that. She is always giving every work out 110% and when she’s not pushing herself she is pushing an encouraging her dad and the other contestants. I know it’s crazy, but I feel like I know her and I am so proud whenever I see her win a challenge or kill it on the scale. I need to look to SunShine for inspiration in my own life; inspiration to not only be healthier and push myself but to believe in myself, be more confident and to really push encourage those close to me.

 You get 'em girl! And if you ever need a Sugar Free Vanilla, Skim Latte...I got the best one in town!

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Chelsea Handler is the host of a late night talk show called "Chelsea Lately" on the E! Network and is also the New York Times #1 Bestselling author of the books, "My Horizontal Life," "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me Chelsea," and her newest book "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang." She is beyond hilarious, I record her show every night and am near tears from laughter almost every episode. This past Saturday, she was in town for a book tour promoting "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang" and I was lucky enough to have tickets. My friend Sarah and I went to her stand up show and she did not disapoint.

She was raunchy, foul-mouthed and everything you would expect. She didn't hold anything back--she made fun of all races equally and as usual used her family as most of her punchlines. I'll keep my favorite line from the show to myself to keep the blog PC but my second favorite was, "You'd be tired too if you were drunk all the time."

I have read both of her previous books and am finishing up her latest, if you have not read them...you need to. They are hilarious short stories of her crazy comedy filled life. Half the time I cannot believe what is coming across the pages of the book but nonetheless I can't put it down and find myself laughing out loud during most of it. J had to "shoosh" me on an airplane once because I was laughing too loud while reading, "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me Chelsea." Her quick wit and unashamed attitude make her so fun to watch and so fun to read, so if you're not already a Chelsea fan I highly recommend you become one!

ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

I cannot believe it's already been one month since we opened our doors for business! I am really excited about how everything is going so far! We're averaging about 50 tickets per day, which is a decent flow of traffic. Of course, it's slower than we would like but it's only been a month! We're finding that Saturday is our busiest day, and while Sunday used to be our worst day we're seeing it really start to pick up! We're currently working on getting some patio furniture to add some outdoor seating and I will also be attending a drink workshop in a couple of weeks and will hopefully get some great ideas for a couple of special summer drinks! We recently had an ad written in the St. Louis Park local news paper, so hopefully that will drive in some more traffic! 

Thank you so much to all of our friends and family for your undying support and for bringing in so much business for us! We love you!

Nate.

Today is my baby brother's 21st birthday. I actually remember 21 years ago sitting on a bench at the end of the hallway in the hospital with my Grandma K. We sat there patiently for what seemed like forever. Finally, I heard crying and my dad came out and said "You have a brother." I remember feeling very proud. I am so lucky that Nate and I are so close, he is one of my best friends and I know I can always count on him to be there for me no matter what, I hope he feels the same.

 

I am so proud of the person Nate has become. He is a junior at St. Olaf and was just elected as the captain of the St. Olaf basketball team. He is so smart, so driven and I know he is going to be extremely successful. I can't wait to see what he accomplishes, considering what he's already acheived at 21. I'm sure Nate doesn't read this and I'm sure he would make fun of me if he did, but whether he sees this or not I want my baby brother to know that I am so proud of him and I love him more than anything.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIE!

Week One

It's Sunday afternoon and Jason and are winding down and finishing up our first week of business. It has been quite the week. The 4:00am wake up call is definitely an adjustment! It's getting easier each day but boy is that early. We get to the shop between 5am and 5:30am Monday-Friday but I must say we are becoming quite efficient in the opening tasks, so we may be able to get an extra 10-15 minutes of sleep in each morning.

As for business, it's been good. Being that it is our first week, we have been slower than we'd like but the future is very promising. We already have probably 10 regulars who have been in 3+ days this week! A couple of them were even kind enough to write up some five star online reviews!

On a personal note, today is one of my favorite days of the year....THE ACADEMY AWARDS! I have always loved the show but after my three semester stint as a film major I have a greater respect and a greater interest in the industry and the academy. Every year I push myself to see as many of the nominated films as possible, but being that I have been slightly distracted the past few months I think I have only seen 9 of the films. I am on my fourth year of running a very cut throat Oscar Pool where everyone fills out a ballot for their choice of winners and pays a $5 entry fee. The past few years I have seen twice as many of the nominated movies and have never finished in the top 3, maybe now that i'm completely guessing like everyone else I will have a better chance!