TV: less equals more

This year for lent I gave up reality TV. To be clear: I LOVE reality TV. I love all of the real housewives shows (no idea why? just truly obsessed). I love Bethenny Frankel (She started her fame on the Real Housewives of New York, Season 1 and now has her own reality spin off TV show- Bethenny-Getting-Married and now Bethenny-Ever-After. She is absolutely fantastic. She is the founder of Skinny Girl Margaritas and also writes books (I own "Naturally Thin")). I love Bad Girls Club, Intervention, Top Chef (all seasons, including Top Chef Masters), Cake Boss, The Hills, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, Project Runway, Real World, all of the Mtv challenges, Teen Mom, America' Next Top Model (all seasons) and the list goes on and on and on... I would find myself wasting full Saturdays on marathons of shows I had already seen multiple times.

As you can tell, this was quite the addiction hobby. My life was literally dictated by the TV and I stopped doing many of the things I really truly love; things that add something to the world. I have been aware of this "problem" for the past year, but with no real plan for change. So, back to where I started: This year for lent I gave up reality TV. I can't even express how monumental this change has been. I am spending more time with my family (Jared) and Abby (our dog). I experimented with yoga. Jared and I joined an ultimate frisbee team. I am reading, journaling, praying, crafting, exercising, cleaning, cooking and overall living more.

Since lent ended, I now allow myself 2 hours of reality TV a week. It's funny because some weeks I don't watch any at all. It is no longer a priority, it is more of an afterthought; the way it should be.

With all of this new found time, I have become very mindful about how and what I fill it with. I don't want to go from one ridiculous obsession to another. One of the things that is really important to me is staying in touch with my friends and family that are spread out all over the world. I primarily use the phone, email or facebook to keep in touch, but I started to realize that there is so much of my day-to-day weirdness uniqueness that is missed. Things that are too long to post on facebook or things that don't come up in a phone call or email. Things that are very important to who I am but are somehow overshadowed by bigger news and pushed aside. The things that come up during a long lunch, a girls night out, drinks at the bar, a walk in the park or a day of shopping. Things that distance prohibits.

Hence, the blog :) I figured this would be a way to track my process on the 2 hours of reality TV a week and keep friends and family updated on my life. I got this idea from a friend, and I must say that I read her blog about once a week but feel a more intimate connection to her that I would have otherwise missed.