Weight: 187 pounds
Pants size: 12!
Heart pumpin' jam: Airplanes, B.o.B.
Elliptical: 3,000 rotations. Treadmill: 1.0 mile.
Breakfast: Hot lemon water; activa yogurt; grapes; green tea.
Lunch: Homemade Italian vegetable, turkey soup. A little Parmesan cheese. Water.
Snack: Pear and probiotic cottage cheese
Dinner: 17-day diet BBQ boneless skinless chicken breast, broccoli, a little bit of salad w/ lite Cesar dressing. I'll also have a 2nd cup of green tea before bed.
Water: plenty!!
Well, I did good eating this weekend-- the only time I even remotely cheated was a little bit of rice on Friday night. But I mean, rice? Come on, that's not going to ruin my diet. But, I have to be honest... no wine went out the window pretty quickly. And, when I spent my Saturday running a full court press response to the tragic events in Tucson, Arizona from the hair salon, my car, and Chi-Cha lounge to say hi to Gary since we were in the area, the no wine thing turned into quite a few glasses.
I had been watching West Wing DVDs when I woke up on Saturday, and then I got ready to get my hair done in Georgetown... no indication anything was wrong until I was about 15 minutes into my highlights when I got a text from Lee Ann asking if I had seen what was going on. Then, I realized I had 3 missed e-mails from my Chief of Staff and the Congressman, and then my phone started blowing up with reporters asking for him to come to a studio in Austin, for him to call in, for a statement. If John hadn't brought his laptop, I'm not sure what I would have done-- walked out with half-highlighted hair? I considered it.
So, we did all the press we needed to do-- and then when I got home, it hit me. Neighborhood Office Hours at a grocery store. We do those all of the time. It hit me harder when I found out 2 of her staff had been hurt and 1-- 30 years old and engaged-- was killed. People out in the community, trying to talk to people, trying to listen, trying to make the best decisions they can make for the people who voted to send them to Congress. You can't make everyone happy. You can't make a decision that's going to make everyone happy all of the time. But you try to do what's best... and you operate under the assumption that a madman isn't going to open fire at an event.
Politics has gotten very ugly over the last year and a half. There's a lot of violent rhetoric. Words like tyranny, like socialism. Pictures of Hitler, of the Joker. Questions about birth certificates, about religion. There are actually radio announcers who have said things like, "If ballots don't work, we'll use bullets." There are people who post maps of targeted districts during the election with little pictures of guns over the people they want to defeat.
What everyone forgets is that for every decision someone is angry about, another is happy about. And, there's so much misinformation and lies bred by hate radio in the name of ratings, people don't even understand half the things we are working for. Every story told is so one sided, it makes me ill.
But what everyone should know for certain is they don't have the right to resort to violence. Violence, where there should be political discourse, will put out the beacon that the United States of America is supposed to be to its own citizens and citizens around the world. A story is always 2-sided; never as it seems. And for Pete's sake, there's a difference between the truth as told by Rush Limbaugh or spoken by Ronald Reagan. There's no reason we can't get along... and debate the facts... without yelling, screaming, and pretending like there's only one side to the story and everyone else is wrong.
There's something horribly wrong in this country when a Congresswoman and her staff trying to do their jobs goes out into the community and meets the rage of a gunman. This is a sad time in our country... no matter what you believe is right and no matter who you believe is wrong.
So tonight, my post is dedicated to Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, and all those who were harmed on Saturday... and to all who serve.
Sarah
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