the $4 dress

a few of you requested that i take a picture of this infamous dress, so that's what i did... i also took a pic of another dress i picked-up tonight at penny's (on sale for $14.99) - i've never been one to buy loud or printed dresses but suddenly, that's all i'm drawn too... guess i'm feeling more comfortable in brighter colors these days (another plus to losing weight!)... i also found a pair of brown capris, a pair of tan dress pants, a pair of workout shorts, 2 workout tanks, and 2 cami's that are a much needed item anytime of the year... i didn't have any luck w/shoes though so that will be another trip... such is life... :o)

weigh-in

i have one for you today and that is HUH? how in the world did i lose anything this week? though less than a pound (.4 to be exact), it's still a loss and it was still very unexpected... so i what did i do? treated myself to a starbucks latte and a piece of their lowfat chocolate chip & banana coffee cake... i'm sure i gained that .4 pounds right back but whatever - it's been a long and very busy day! :o)

i was here til almost 7:00 last night - a blueline for the last printed piece came back from review and the proofreader found all these errors (editorial not design)... i about cried because at that point, there should be minimal changes... and since we're on such a tight deadline - i had to make the changes, have them reviewed, and then prep a new disk to give to the printer this morning... after that, i went to macy's to try and find some chocolate brown capris, which i did, but i might return them if i find others that i like more... this morning, i met the printer at 8:00 and we headed to baltimore to see my program cover being embossed - i love 'behind the scenes' stuff because you learn so much and appreciate how much goes into a printed piece (plus i love the smell of ink)... i got here around noon and it's been nonstop ever since because my boss is off-site and i had to handle some things in her absence... hence the starbucks run at 3:00 pm... :o)

tonight i'm going to hit the mall after work - i'm trying to find some shoes since i took most of mine to consignment, and i also need to keep searching for capris... once i have something stuck in my head - like finding pants - i can't concentrate on anything else... it's such a challenge for me... wish me luck!

happy hump day...

p.s. note to self: don't EVER buy coffeecake at starbucks again! what a waste of 8 points! :o(

how many slices can i fit in my mouth?

begin rant...

UGH, I AM SO FULL! they had a pizza party for my coworker today (the one that's leaving) and it was from ledos - my favorite kind of pizza in the whole, wide world! it's rectangular, with a plain sauce, and provolone cheese so it's easy to put-away more pieces because they're so damn small... i also had a cookie... what is wrong with me? i feel so out of control these past few days - who am i kidding?! i've been out of the WW-loop for a while and it's time to reign things in (again)... i have a little more than a week til this annual meeting is over and then i can bring the focus back to ME and not just work... i know it seems silly that i can't do both at the same time but when my schedule is messed-up and i'm working crazy hours, everything just seems less important... one bad day of eating - soon turns into a week and then one missed workout - soon turns into 3... what happened to the girl that was jogging 6x week and keeping track of everything? ugh! she got lazy, that's what, and i don't like her so i'm going to have to kick her out... :o)

end of rant...

my weekend was good - i found a few things at the yard sale but i also got super sunburned which is bad... i'm usually very good at wearing sunscreen but forgot and am now paying for it on my neck and chest... eric got two stereo components for his garage so we hooked that up on sunday and it sounds great - i told him he needs to move his office out there now... we watched two movies: 'the departed' (which is good even the 2nd time) and 'into the wild' which was amazing but very sad - i highly recommend it... we had hamburgers on the grill for dinner and s'mores (which is my fault but i wanted to celebrate the first burger grilling of the summer)... they were very tasty... ;o)

i'm wearing a dress today that i picked-up at goodwill with my mom a few week ago - it's a knee-length, plaid, linen dress with a belt and when i put it on this morning, i wasn't impressed... but i wore it anyway because i hate changing outfits once i've made a decision... well, i've gotten like 10 compliments on it today - how funny is that... and to think i paid like $4 for the thing, that just cracks me up... so maybe i will keep it afterall... ;o)

guess that's all - tomorrow is weigh-in and i'm not looking forward to it... there will be a big gain for sure but that's okay - i need to have a starting point... i have to go on a press-check in baltimore in the morning and the CSR was like, "should i get donuts for the trip?"... i said, thanks but no thanks (i sure hope he was kidding!)...

happy tuesday...

i can see the light

at the end of the tunnel... i accomplished a great deal today - got my last, printed piece to the printer and now it's just a matter of approving the bluelines next week and we're good to go... there was also a meeting with the production company who's handling everything at the hotel - their graphics sucked and no one seemed to care... i mentioned the logo being wrong and they were like, "we only modified it a little"... a little? why modify it at all - it's the conference logo, you dumbasses! how would they like it if i just 'modified' their logo because i felt like it... stuff like that just makes me SO mad! anyway, i'm now researching photos to promote the '59 pink cadillac convertible that we're having in the exhibitor hall, along with $350 cutouts of elvis and marilyn monroe... i mean really! AND they're having a photographer there if you want your picture taken... maybe it's just me but i think we could've spent our money on something better - LIKE GETTING ALTON BROWN! :o)

went for a nice, slow jog today - i just can't seem to pick-up the pace outside but then again - i haven't been doing it regularly enough to make any improvement... either way, it was nice to be outside - got to see some doggies which is always nice... :o)

weekend plans: eric and i are meeting up w/his old roommate, wife, and kids for dinner tonight - i think we're doing indian but i'm not certain... we also have some time to kill so it's drinks after work until 7:00... tomorrow, we're going to a HUGE community yard sale - i usually go with my mom but he said he'd like to go so we're taking truck and hopefully will find some good bargains! the rest of the weekend will be spent washing my winter clothes, packing them away, and taking out all my spring/summer stuff... happy happy, joy joy! :o)

have a great weekend, everyone...

weigh-in

two steps forward and one step back, as they say... 2 pounds magically reappeared this week - okay, maybe not magically but i wasn't expecting it regardless... exercise has been sporadic - no spin class or 6-hour yard work this past weekend... and i've also been eating a lot of bagels for some reason (bread is my downfall) but i'm not going to let this gain derail me... i'm hoping that after this week is over, my daily schedule will be back to normal and thus, i can make exercising top priority again... i didn't go to the gym yesterday or today because of my workload but i will make a point to go tomorrow, regardless of what's on my plate... i made a big pot of turkey chili tonight so i have lunches for the rest of the week - i've also been eating a lot of fruit so my goal is to, once again, get off what i gained... :o)

like mentioned above - work has just been extremely busy... i have two more pieces that need to go to the printer this week and several signs to finish, including our booth which is taking forever because of the file sizes... i have also yet to hear from the printer about the our trip to baltimore, so i can see the embossing of the black-tie program, but am hoping it won't be til next week when things are slower... we shall see...

i learned on monday that a coworker, whom i used to be pretty close too, put in her 2-weeks notice last friday... she doesn't have another job lined-up but is instead going to key west and living in a house she rented for a month... she feels that getting away from everything and everyone will help her focus on what she wants to do w/her life and career - i can't say i blame her but personally, i could never make such a move without having some sort of plan... she offered eric and i a place to stay, if we wanted to visit - not sure if we'll go but it's a very nice thought! :o)

well, i'm off to finish some laundry - getting ready to swap my winter/summer clothes this weekend so there's much to do... i have about 10-15 pairs of shoes at work that i need to bring home too, i hate carrying them back and forth everyday so i've just kept them under my desk... shhhh... ;o)

happy hump day...

let the grilling begin

just thought i'd share some pics of our dinner last night... that norman! guess the grilled shrimp was a bit too enticing for him... i also made some whole wheat couscous but used chicken broth instead of water - it was awesome! too bad the weather is far from awesome today but it's good to have a day just to do nothing (okay i did some grocery shopping, laundry, and cleaning but that doesn't count!)... :o)

hi ho hi ho

the weather is gorgeous here today, good thing i was able to enjoy most of the day after having worked a few hours this morning... since i went to bed early and was up early - i made it to work by 9:00 and was done w/my project by noon... go me! i probably didn't HAVE to go in but i feel better knowing i'm staying ontop of things and alleviating more stress next week... it doesn't help that my boss in vegas for the weekend - not that we're not busy or anything but whatever, my time is coming, don't you worry! ;o)

i went for a jog/walk yesterday and managed to jog the whole way down to the lincoln memorial - not sure how far that is from my office but i would say somewhere around 2 miles... i must check online... it was very warm but it felt great to be outside, esp. after staring at the computer all morning... :o)

i headed over to eric's this afternoon, he's been working on his truck and when he's done - we'll be finishing the backyard... when he went to the auto parts store, i grabbed dinner at the asian market and now have shrimp marinating (lime juice, olive oil, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes) in the fridge along w/veggies for some cabobs... you gotta love grilling when it's in the high 70s! we also got some margarita mixer so i'll be enjoying that as well - i totally deserve a relaxing night and i'm looking forward to not doing a SINGLE THING tomorrow... :o)

enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone...

weigh-in

i'm down another .6 pounds this week bringing me to an even 153 (4 more pounds, baby!)... i feel i have been doing really good with food and am getting as much exercise as i can, considering my workload, so this weigh-in means a lot... :o)

work is going better this week - i have about 10 different projects going on at once and they're all progressing at different levels... i was able to send about 100 signs/panels to the exhibit vendor yesterday so that was a big load of my back but there are still more to do unfortunately... i was also told to 'design' our booth panels which is fine but the last time i checked, i didn't see editor/writer on my resume... ;o)

my weekend was good - i had a good spin class on saturday morning and then headed over to eric's... we made use of the nice weather and though he's supposed to break the new harley engine in easy - we took it out for an afternoon ride thru the country... my dentist has been raving about a new mexican restaurant so we checked it out and had a really great meal... this was definitely my cheat meal for the week because i had: chips, fresh salsa, a cheese-filled poblano pepper, 3 fish tacos, AND a margarita on the rocks... YUM YUM! :o)

on sunday - eric and i tackled his back yard... what started out as just weeding and mowing, soon turned into redoing 2 of the flowerbeds and rototilling the area where he wants to put grass... i think we were out there for like 6 hours which was great because i got lots of exercise (love to mow grass!) and was able to enjoy the nice weather... the robins were going crazy after we were done because there were freshly dug-up worms everywhere (we even found some cool salamanders under a rock)... in the end, it was a good and relaxing weekend which is just what i needed! :o)

as for this weekend - i might be going out to my sister's but we'll see what happens with work... as long as i can keep things moving along this week, i may not have to come in... and if i do, that's okay too because in less than 3 weeks - all this will be over! whoo hooo! :o)

happy hump day...

so glad this week is over

work pretty much sucked yesterday, i was an emotional mess for some reason (meds?), and even had a few crying spells in my office... i lost a battle with a design i wanted to use in the final program - my boss and the woman in charge of the conference said it wasn't anything against me, my talent, or all the hard work i've been doing... it was a decision made by someone 'higher-up' and i just had to accept it... i was so hurt and so frustrated since i'm always trying to improve on what we do but sometimes, you just gotta move on regardless of how personal the work may be to you... i could've just locked myself in my office all day but i took my hour, had a great weight-workout, and called it a day at 5:00...

today was much better, thank god, and i made progress on some other stuff - thought i would have to work this weekend but i don't so that makes me VERY happy... i took my hour and went for a long walk down to the mall - it was gorgeous here today, sunny, and in the low 70s... too bad sat/sun are going to suck so i'm glad i took advantage of it... :o)

not sure what the rest of the weekend may hold - i told eric we should take a roadtrip somewhere but with the forecast, i'm not sure what we'll do... we haven't gone anywhere or done anything in quite a while and i'm feeling antsy... i also feel like i need to get away from here and from work and just have fun... we'll see what happens - he's hanging out w/the boys tonight so i'm home doing laundry and taking pictures...

as promised, i attempted to take pictures of some of the dresses i've purchased lately - sorry for the blurriness and half-body shots but there are only so many places that i can put the camera and have the timer work... my fav is the blue/black lace one and it will be perfect for my friend's wedding in july - i'll wear the green/flower one to eric's sister's wedding which is also in july... i have NO idea when i'll wear the red one but it was a steal at ross for $13.99 and i had to get it... anyway, max was enjoying himself and said i looked "very purrrrty"... ;o)

have a great weekend everyone... :o)

weigh-in

this past week was not perfect by any means, for tracking or exercising, but the scale said otherwise - i lost 3 pounds and accomplished losing what i gained last week and then some! whoo hooo! i really REALLY want to keep this momentum going because it feels great and i'm SO close to my goal... as long as i can keep things together at work, i will make more of an effort to get away from my desk for an hour and exercise... work will always be there when i get back... ;o)

i took today off because i had a doctor's appt. in the morning and a dentist appt. in the afternoon - my heart murmur is just that, a murmur, and nothing serious or anything for me to worry about... a lot of people have them, he said, and they're going to monitor it once a year to make sure everything remains in-check... the doc also took blood and will get the results in a few days to see if the synthroid level he has me on is right - he asked if i felt better and i said i felt fine, like i did before... i wasn't feeling bad or having any symptoms before the medication so maybe i won't feel anything after everything has levels out - who knows!

after i got home from the docs, i did 40-minutes on the treadmill, hit the shower, and then picked-up my mom (i take her along when she's not busy)... i headed to the dentist where once again, i was commented on how nice my teeth and gums are (note: i NEVER floss!) and i also have no cavities! since i rescheduled my hair appt. for later in the day - we had lunch at chipotle and then went to coldwater creek to exchange a jacket she got me (i needed a size small which still amazes me)... i tried on some dresses, since i now have two weddings to go too this summer, and found a knock-out dress with black lace over light blue satin on sale for $29... i also got another one that is cream with flowers, very flowy, and on sale $19 - the best part is that the dresses are in a size 8! i've never had dresses in a size 8! EVER! wow! i literally stood in front of the mirror, in both shock and awe, because what i was seeing was not what i'm used too... as much as a bitch and moan about gaining/losing - i think i've finally realized that my body HAS changed and all this hard work IS paying off... i'm glad no one else was in the dressing room because i probably looked really strange in front of the 3-way mirrors! ;o)

after shopping - it was off to get my haircut, then i dropped off mom, and headed to panera bread to meet two of my girlfriends for dinner... their new creamy tomato soup is to die for, if anyone's curious... i also ran to kohl's because my mom had a 30% coupon and i ended up getting another dress (for work) that will look adorable with black capri tights and ballet slippers... can you tell that when i go shopping, i GO shopping... :o)

hard to believe i have to go back to work tomorrow but it was a productive day and i'm ready to dive back into meeting material... unless there's a miracle, i will probably work on saturday - i just know things are going to start flying and flying fast so it's better to get what i can done now, and worry about the last-minute stuff later... i don't mind really because i can dress casual, play loud music, and not worry about people bugging me... :o)

happy hump day...

easy does it

i've been lazy today and considering the weather (cold and cloudy) i think that's justifiable... it was gorgeous here yesterday - sunny and in the high 60s - but i was indoors for most of the day doing spring cleaning... i cleaned my sliding glass doors and two windows in the LR which consisted of wiping down the blinds, cleaning the glass, washing curtains, and putting up my summer ones... i also cleaned the entire kitchen and bathroom, vacuumed, took a load of clothes to consignment, and dropped of a few bags at goodwill... it feels good to have this done esp. since i neglected the windows last spring and it's nice having less clutter in my bedroom... i'm usually at eric's every weekend so it was nice having some 'me' time, even it was to do some much needed cleaning (which i enjoy, yea i'm weird like that)... :o)

i haven't exercised since thursday - was a bit sore on friday since i started a new weight routine... thought i would hit the sat morning spin class but after working a lot this past week, i needed to sleep in... food has been okay - had thai friday night and we made pizza in eric's cast iron skillet last night... talk about total yum! i highly recommend this if you're into making pizza at home... tonight i'm making turkey kielbasa with veggies and brown rice - looking forward to a warm meal since it's so cold... :o)

i expect this week to be busy at work - hopefully i can continue to stay ahead of the curve and not flip-out on some staff members that THINK they have say over design... i'm sure a lot of places are this way but seriously - let me do my job! god forbid i try something different and new (and better looking in my opinion)... okay, end of rant... ;o)

enjoy the rest of your weekend...

weigh-in

hello... my name is jodi and i'm a non-pointaholic... for some reason i thought i was okay not keeping track of what i was eating but i was wrong... so very wrong... though i know the scale said i gained (2.8 pounds!), i know it's not real and i know it's only temporary... either way, it was enough to get me back on eTools today as well as to the gym for a good 45-minute workout... i ate out not once or twice last week but FOUR times so i'm sure that didn't help either but it's over and today is the beginning of a new week... i'm not sure i can lose 5.6 pounds like kim did but i'll try my best to at least say bye-bye to what i gained... :o)

work is busy and getting busier - some days are really good and i'm productive as hell but other days are just filled w/meetings and dealing w/vendors that seem to think they can change artwork and think you won't notice... um, right! nice try! here is just a tiny list of what i still have to design: 100+ signs for the exhibit hall, various booths (including ours), final program, exhibitor guide, product demo theater program, powerpoint slides, dinner menu, video to be shown on plasma tvs, and a bunch more misc stuff... i also have to do the materials for the black-tie event (that limited staff is allowed to attend) and finalize a 100+ page research report... OY VEY! CALGON, TAKE ME AWAY!

i'll try and keep up with everyone as best i can...

happy hump day...