Julie & Julia

So I rented this movie over the weekend.  First, let me say that this is my new all time favorite chick flick.  Not only was the acting fantastic (Meryl Streep should totally win an Oscar) but I felt like the movie was actually talking to me.  For those who may not be aware, the movie is based on a true story about a woman who decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook in 365 days and write a blog about it.  The movie cuts from her modern day life and then to Julia's life as she went to cooking school and then trying to get her cookbook published.  "Why would this movie speak to you?" You may ask.  Do I cook?  Barely.  Am I particularly talented cook? No.  Do I like to cook?  No.  But the movie was about so much more than just the food!  It's about anyone approaching a chronological milestone in their lives (be it 30, 40, 80!) and feels that they just haven't accomplished all that they are meant to...like they're destined to do more.  (I'd just like to add here that you should NOT watch this movie hungry.  They are always cooking in it and the food looks scrumptious!  Made me want to go to a French restaurant...pronto!)

Julie (not to be confused with Julia) works for a government office in New York where she sits in a cubicle all day and answers phones.  She doesn't like this job and at one point someone on the phone asks her "Do you have any power?  I want to talk to someone with power."  And she answers "No.  I don't have any power."  She also has a half written novel at home that she can't get published and all she really wants to be is a writer but she just can't seem to get it done.  She has these friends that she lunches with from time to time who are just awful.  They're all uber-successful in their careers and kinda snotty.  At one point, she asks "Is it wrong to hate your friends?"  Then as she's approaching her 30th birthday, she just has this overwhelming feeling of failure.  She feels that she's never followed through with anything.  So she chooses this quest to be her accomplishment.  She's going to finish this mission come hell or high water.

Aside from all the food, this could be my life.  I am a quitter.  There I said it.  I have this exact same follow through issue.  I am 28 years old and I have never followed through with anything.  This is why I don't have my degree, why I can't seem to lose this weight.  This is how it is.  I get very excited about things and then fizzle out.  I was going to learn how to write calligraphy for my wedding invitations..bought all the stuff...not one invitation...not even a practice one.  I've gone back to college 3 times after my original jaunt and still can't seem to complete my degree.  I've started umpteen thousand diets and have quit them all.  I've joined at least 4 gyms and never renewed 1 contract.  Every year I buy 40 Christmas cards to mail to family and friends, and come Valentine's Day, they are still sitting on my desk.  My daughters' baby books...oh lordy.  My oldest' has 3 pages filled out and my youngest' has never even been opened. 

So...all that aside.  This is going to be my year.  This why my 3 Day Walk and my lapband adventure are so important to me.  They both require a real commitment.  The financial commitments, the physical requirements, the mental preparedness.  This is going to be the year that I don't quit.  When my shins and ankles hurt from my C25k program...I'm not going to give up.  When (not if, but WHEN) I'm banded and I hit a plateau, I'm not going to just say "Well, $#&! it!  I'm eating a cake!"  When I'm $500 away from my fundraising goal, I'm not going to just say, "It was a good try."  I'm going to do it.  I'm going to make it.  I will be banded, I will lose this weight, I will run a 5k, I will raise the money I need for the Walk and I will finish said walk with a smile on my face.  I will follow through on my goals.  There must be more that I am meant to do this life than sit in a cubicle like a veal and waste away to nothing!  No more Mrs. Quitter!