Why I Blog

I've always been a writer. I have journals dating as far back as 1990 when I was in 2nd grade and I wrote down the details of my life in my Minnie Mouse diary. From then on, I've filled various notebooks, diaries, and even small scraps of paper with information that was important to me.

Writing has served as my escape from reality. It's allowed me to go back and relive the most meaningful moments of my life. I've kept detailed accounts of games of Man Hunt in the backyard with my Middle School crush, winning Cheerleading Nationals as a freshman in college, and my struggles with food and disordered eating as a young adult. Nothing has escaped my pen!

I've been following healthy living bloggers for over a year. I started with Kath Eats Real Food and the list grew from there. I've always thought blogging would be a lot of fun, but I never bothered to think about it in further detail. That was something that they did, but I couldn't.

During my Spring 2009 semester of grad school at Boston College, I took a course entitled Increasing Personal Effectiveness. I completed a number of personality tests including MBTI, TKI, FIRO-B, and the Strong Interest Inventory. The Strong Interest Inventory reults had the greatest impact on me, especially when my professor issued his words of warning.

My percentage of artistic needs is considerably high, 2 standard deviations above the norm, and at that time, my needs were not being met. According to the test, I am independent and indiviualistic. I hate being forced into the box and I thrive in creative environments. My professor advised that I feed my artistic side as soon as possible. I would never feel personally effective unless all of my needs, especially my artistic ones, were being met. I suggested signing up for more classes, possibly a creative writing course at BC. It was a little frightening that my professor made it clear that I needed to do this as soon as I could, and that my happiness rested on this.

Life got too busy for me to enroll in a creative writing course. I finished grad school and got ready for a vacation to France. While in France, I photographed almost every meal so I could show the wonderful cuisine to the folks back home. The wheels in my mind began turning. I'd been living a healthy life for years, but I still wanted to make some changes. People might actually be interested in what I ate and how I exercised. Normal people could relate to the slow progress of my healthy living. I wasn't, and still don't, live as cleanly as a lot of bloggers out there...but I am trying!

By early September 2009, I forced myself to sit down and sign up for a blog. I've been posting several times a day for a month. My life has not changed dramatically, but my state of mind has done a complete 180! I'm focused on my life: where I've been and where I want to go. I have a newfound confidence in myself and an enthusiasm for the projects I'm undertaking.

Crunches for Cupcakes follows me on my journey of healthy living. Yes, extra emphasis on the living. I'm not perfect. I have my up and down days. I don't follow an organic diet. I don't know how to eat clean. I'm not a great cook. But the most important thing is that I'm trying! I'm also learning. I'm learning new things and I'm discovering myself in the process. I was obsessed with working out when I was in college. I limited my social activities because I was afraid of the extra calories I might consume. I missed out on so many fun life experiences because I was hell bent on staying thin.

My blog features a little of each aspect of my life because it's all about real living. I love to eat as healthy as possible and exercise whenever I can. It makes me happy and it feels good. I also love to drink wine, go out to eat, relax with friends, and have lazy weekend mornings. If I don't feel like going to the gym, I probably won't. But if I am craving a cookie, I'll eat it. Nothing bad will happen to me. I'm a responsible adult and I know how to balance my life. My life will not spiral out of control if I relax my healthy living and be a normal person.

So that's a brief summary of how Crunches for Cupcakes came to be. As for the title, well I've always been known to do crunches. I spent every free moment at cheerleading practice trying to work on my abs. I'm also obsessed with cupcakes. I love eating them, looking at recipes, and collecting cupcake themed items like necklaces, t-shirts from Johnny Cupcakes, and scents. But in order to keep enjoying cupcakes on a daily basis (well, the edible kind at least), I need to keep doing those crunches!