TGIF

it was quite chilly on my walk to work this morning,from the metro, but i love the crisp fall air.. makes me enjoy being outside even more, regardless of how my allergies are acting up... eric wants to do yardwork this weekend so i'm hoping the weather cooperates, they say it may rain but let's hope it doesn't... i've had noting to do here at work so i've read my blogs, sent a few emails, had lunch, and am now just waiting for 2:00 so i can go to the gym... wish my boss would leave early so i can finish reading oprah...

anyway, i copied the list of dares from the book i am reading and challenge you all to pick at least one and do it this weekend... on monday, let's report back here and share our experiences...

have a great weekend everyone... GO REDSKINS AND STEELERS! :o)

30 Dares for a More Gutsy and Fulfilling Life
(written by Natasha Kogan)

Daily Daring Habits

1. Dare to find what makes you ecstatic, and do it for at least 10 minutes a day
2. Date to learn something new every day
3. Dare to do now what you could do later
4. Dare to look forward more often than you look back
5. Dare to stop frustration with action

Dream Huge, Aim Higher

6. Dare to have a life wish list and cross something off every year
7. Dare to chase your passions
8. Dare to bite off more than you can chew, but learn how to spit
9. Dare to imitate people who inspire you
10. Dare to be the person you dream of being

Let Your Inner Daring Female Shine Through

11. Dare to love your quirks and imperfections
12. Dare to learn how to do something amazingly well and show it off
13. Dare to be more creative
14. Dare to not label yourself
15. Dare to take side, but ready to switch

Have No Fear

16. Dare to ignore naysayers
17. Dare to take life detours
18. Dare to take risks if you can live with the worst-case scenario
19. Dare to revel in the awesome-case scenario
20. Dare to un-intimidate yourself

It’s Your Daring Life

21. Dare to do something you don’t think you’re good at once in a while
22. Dare to unclutter your life (at least) once a year
23. Dare to get on the train first and then worry about where it’s going
24. Dare to live it, not count it
25. Dare to dedicate six weeks a year to forming a new habit (or kicking one you can’t stand)

Laugh a Little, Live a Lot

26. Dare to have outrageous amounts of fun
27. Dare to laugh at yourself
28. Dare to color outside the lines
29. Dare to just get in a good mood
30. Dare to share your special vibes with the world

short weeks are always the longest

don't you hate it when you think about lunch all morning and when you go to the freezer to get it, you find something completely different? where's my enchilada w/rice? instead it was chicken in peanut sauce, not quite the same but i ate it... i usually bring in several selections from home and this was the last one i had at work, need to replenish the supply soon... i must've bought 12 lean cuisines when they were on sale - who can pass them up at $2/piece? puhlease...

my meeting after work went well... i got positive feedback on my work and it looked very professional mounted on boards... and he really liked my new case (which is heavy as shit mind you) so at least that paid off... the place is tiny and the benefits are okay - no health insurance but they reimburse you for the premium (up to a certain amount) OR if you're on a hubby/partners plan, they do the same thing... am i qualified? definitely... would i be happy there? not sure, i may need to rethink what type of place i'm looking for - what's better? being a small fish in a big pond OR a big fish in a small pond... maybe what i have now isn't so bad afterall...

went to the gym today after blowing off yesterday... its time to create a new weight routine and this time it will be on my own since my gym now charges for a training session... i've been doing it long enough and have copies of the last 6-7 workouts so i should be fine... plus i have enough fitness/shape/health magazines to reference if needed... anyone have other suggestions for good workouts? i usually do arms/legs on the same day, 2x week...

i'm looking forward to the weekend, it will be nice being home - may go see 'little miss sunshine' or 'jackass', guess it depends on our mood on saturday...

happy thursday...

weigh-in wednesday

*whew* the damage from my trip to texas wasn't as bad as i thought - only gained .8 pounds and considering what i had to eat and drink over a 4-day weekend/vacation, that's pretty damn good... maybe the jogging helped but anyway, i feel pretty good about the choices i made and never once felt deprived of anything... maybe i'm finally getting the hang of all this WW stuff (laughs uncontrolably)... :o)

had my performance review today, it went pretty well... since this is my 4th one, my boss is at the point where she just paraphrases her comments and lets me read the whole thing on my own... won't know what the increase will be until october sometime, i'm hoping for at least 3% but we'll see... its also nice to hear that she still receives positive comments from others about my work and how i handle myself here... :o)

spoke w/my girlfriend last night, i'll be heading to NJ over columbus day weekend to help her get an idea of what type of wedding dress she wants (along w/her mom and cousin)... we're going into manhattan to visit kleinfeld bridal which is pretty exciting - i haven't been to NYC in a long time so it sounds like fun (lived there for 2 years after college)... she then proceeds to ask ME what type of bridesmaid dresses we should have and i said, "this is YOUR wedding, not mine" and she replies, "but you know what you're doing, i don't"... oy vey, i just told her to get an idea for what type of dress SHE wants first and then the others come later... i'm still voting for a simple, dark chocolate brown, knee length dress... :o)

anyway, just rambling at this point... haven't read many blogs today so i'm off to do that... happy hump day everyone...

dreading the summer/winter clothes swap

nothing's worse than coming back to work after vacation - thank goodness eric and i took off yesterday just to unwind and have a day of non-travel... as i said before i left, i made sure to get exercise in everday (minus sunday when we came home), the hotel had a decent treadmill so i jogged for 30 mins each day and we also did a bunch of walking... as for food, i think i'll give myself a 7 - i did well w/breakfast and lunch but dinners were at the farm and i made the best choices i could... even at the wedding, i took some cake but after 3 bites (and boy were they good!), i threw the rest out... not bad huh... i did partake in some drinking too but nothing overboard so we'll see how the scale reacts tomorrow, no use worrying about it since i had a great time! :o)

the trip was great, we had no issues flying whatsoever so that made things nice... we spent a lot of time on the farm with all the horses and eric's huge extended family consisting of his parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins... the weather was quite hot though and in the 90s most days and the only time it rained was sat night, after the wedding thankfully... we took a roadtrip w/some of his family to galveston one day - our goal was to hit the beach but because we had others with us, that didn't happen (we did use the pool at the hotel though)... sat evening was the wedding and it was beautiful - for a civic ceremony it was quite nice and afterwards there was plenty of eating, drinking, and dancing... all in all, it was a great trip and speaking of - i found out that i need to use almost 2 weeks of vacation before the end of the year before i lose it... yikes!

tonight's plans consist of picking up my new case from eric, hitting the grocery store, library, laundry, and then putting together my design samples for thursday's meeting... i had a 2nd place contact me while on vacation but the salary was too low so i said thanks, but no thanks... hopefully things will pick-up soon...

anyway, i'll continue w/my dares tomorrow - i left the book at home... sorry!

happy tuesday...

p.s. whoo hooo! the skins won this week! :o)

weigh-in wednesday

another week where i thought i would gain for sure because of using all my flex points, eating pizza AND not exercising on sun/tues... not that i feel guilty for the pizza (because it WAS good) but i'm sure i didn't need to eat the whole thing (size small)... as most of you know when things are going good, there's a tendancy to start slipping - a little here, a little there... this is what i'm going to focus on overcoming in the next few weeks - i don't want to constantly guess how my body is going to react to food/exercise... just because i didn't gain this week, doesn't mean i could do the same thing next week and have the same result... this weekend will be a big test for me since we'll be in texas and attending a lot of family events, including a BBQ and wedding on a horse ranch... my exercise clothes are packed, there's a gym at the hotel and my ass will be there every, single morning... :o)

anyone catch the new show, studio 60... love, love, loved it... nice to see something new and fresh on tv this year, and lets hope people keep watching...

yesterday i responded to another job posting, the guy emailed me back this morning and we're trying to set something for next week... my new portfolio arrived at eric's office today, he said it looks pretty darn snazzy, so now i just need to get everything mounted on black matboard (that's not a brochure, report, newsletter, or publication)... so much for taking monday off, i'll be busy doing this instead and sleeping in for sure...

i've been reading the book the daring females guide to ecstatic living (natasha kogan) and thought i would share one every day... its been a great read so far and it really makes you think about how to challenge yourself, regardless of how small/big the task may be...

dare #1: find out what makes you ecstatic, and do it for at least 10 minutes a day

doing something for yourself will put a positive affect on the rest of your day... we are so consumed by i should/i must/i have too's, that we forget to do things we enjoy... read a book, paint, do yoga/pilates, go for a walk, call a friend, take a bath, try a new recipe, listen to your favorite cd, meditate, spend time w/someone you love, play w/your kids, or play w/your pet...

i bid you adieu until next week... i hope everyone had a great hump day and a great rest of the week...:o)

the redskins totally blow

i was looking forward to monday since i feel more in control of my food/exercise... i'm sure most of us feel that way, maybe its because i'm at work and have limited choices but it just seems more simplified... i didn't do too bad at my sister's this weekend - i managed an hour-long walk on saturday morning and kept track of my food, even though i'm sure i've used all my flex points... cardio is done for the day and so will pilates once i get home - its turning out pretty well so far... i have no idea how weigh-in will go on wednesday so i'll just keep as close to 22 points/day as i can... speaking of weightloss, there are a few of you that did awesome this week so i'd like to share your success with others... :o)

belladora
weight watchers eh?
kim under construction
think off the fat mentality
ww for life

so besides being monday, the skins got their asses kicked last night by the cowboys (27-10) and ladies, it was not pretty... its hard to believe we beat them last season which was probably the best game of the year but last night, it was just a big, fat, penalty mess... they better to well next week or i may have to switch teams and become a steelers fan (yikes!)... they seem to know how to play football...

hard to believe we leave for texas on thursday, i have so much to do between now and then... in between all that stuff, i'm going to the foot doctor tomorrow to see what he suggests about a reoccuring pain in my right foot... i've had 3 surgeries on that foot alone (2 morton nueromas and 1 hammertoe) and its just never been the same since... my 4th toe seems to really enjoy hiding under the middle one and i think its causing the problem but we'll see what he says... i dread having surgery again esp. since its only been 2 years but maybe the 2nd time will be better... i also hate to think about not being able to exercise and gaining weight during recovery - how lame is that?!?!

have a good monday...

funky friday

blah, i didn't go the gym during lunch since its 'clean-up' day in our dept. and my boss wanted to go out... i didn't want to look like an idiot/snob by saying no, so i chose the pasta fajole and a piece of multi-grain baquette (au bon pain)... according to my points, i'm at 22 already so i'll have to dip into flex points for dinner - CRAP!... i know i should've skipped the bagel this morning but that is my weekly treat and i'm not going to feel guilty about it... so i'm just going to make an even better effort at walking both sat/sun while visiting my sister - i may need jacket though, its much colder where she is... its really beginning to feel like fall, my friends... :o)

i'm now registered for pilates and was surprised to see a $14 credit on my account - that's awesome since the price of the class went up almost $20 from the last session... i may look into taking another class but only if i can afford it... kickboxing sounds fun but that would mean classes m/w/f and not sure if i'm up for all that at once... know what i mean...

challenge update: i've had ONE person comment that they may be interested in doing it - is there anyone else that would like to join? i think it would be a lot of fun so think about it this weekend and let me know on monday... :o)

anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend... GO REDSKINS!!!

revamped

i am back - decided to take a few days off and redesign my blog in the meantime (see what happens when you procrastinate!)... i will keep my current weight stats in the right-hand column as well as any goals that i feel are important, i've already listed a few weight-related ones and will keep adding... i have also decided to keep doing WW since that seems to work best (when i actually FOLLOW the plan) rather than trying something new... i went to border's the other night to look at some diet books and was completely overwhelmed by the mass quantity of 'stuff' out there... as i read a few, i came to realize that i already know what i have to do and can find pretty much whatever i want via the web, magazines, and newspapers... and speaking of, here's a good article from the washington post about doing cardio/weights on the same day...

as for other changes, i am now doing cardio on m/w/f and weights on t/th - i've been upping my time and am shooting for 500-600 calories burned on cardio days... i will also be doing pilates on m/w/f (or 3 days a week if my schedule is off) and spinning when i can get to the other gym... the next two weekends will be hard since i'll be out of town so when that happens, i will force myself to go walking... i don't want to make too many changes at once so i'll stick w/this plan for a few weeks and see what happens... on a good note though, i bought a pair of dark-wash, stretch, size 10 limited jeans on saturday and they look pretty damn good... :o)

question: would anyone be interested in joining a challenge? i used to belong to this message board where we were in teams and each week we'd weigh-in and after 6 weeks, whoever lost the most would be declared the winner... it would have to be more simplified of course - each of us would set a goal - like lose 5 pounds - and weekly results would be posted here... if you're interested, send me an email - i think it could be pretty motivating and a lot of fun... :o)

happy thursday...

TGIF

i've been avoiding this blog and what i'm doing to myself... i was in such a funk on wednesday that i skipped pilates, went home, and slept for 3 hours - perhaps i was more mentally exhausted then physically but either way, i needed it... i was depressed but probably angry w/myself more than anything, about being angry w/myself - if that makes any sense... i am not making the strides i should be, in order to see the results that i want and am tired of being frustrated, sad, and fed-up... i read/comment on several blogs and know its normal to gain one week and lose the next but i've been the same, damn weight for over a year... who am i kidding?!?!? if i was serious about losing weight, i would be serious about staying on plan, and certainly more serious about exercise but i haven't... i use excuses more than i should ("its raining, i'll be out of town, i'm tired...") and that has got to change... funny how i found this quote to be quite appropriate and exactly how i'm feel right now...

The successful man will profit from his mistakes
and try again in a different way.
~Dale Carnegie

we've all started, stopped, restarted, and revamped our diets (still hate that word but...) but what does OR what will it take for it to stick... what is going to make THIS time better than last time... why is it easier/harder this time around, compared to the last time... and why is it so much easier to give up and throw in the towel... i don't want to give up, i don't want to say that i tried but couldn't do it, and i certainly don't want to say "screw it, i'm done"... i want to be successful at this and i guess i just really haven't accepted that its going to be hard... very hard...

my first obstacle is to set some goals... i've had them in the past but i didn't hold myself accountable for them and that was my first mistake... i will create some goals that are related to both weight, food, and exercise and i'm going to work my ass off at achieving them... i will continue to read everyone's blogs and continue to be inspired and motivated by those who are succeeding at their own goals... for the few that comment here, i really appreciate the kind words and thank-you for not letting me give up... so yet another journey ends and another one begins, i'm kind of excited... :o)

have a great weekend...

weigh-in wednesday

no comment... ugh...

make it stop

i'm so tired of rain - its been miserable since friday and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight... it was pretty crappy in p'burg this weekend too, minus the sun coming out when we were leaving yesterday (figures)... we had a nice, relaxing weekend - got to watch some tennis (i cried when agassi lost!), some movies 'jarhead' and 'unbreakable', hangout w/the family, hangout w/the cows, hangout w/norman's sisters across the street, and eat... i didn't walk ONCE but the weather was just miserable and who wants to go out when its raining anyway... i will give myself a 6 for eating - didn't overdo it but i certainly could've said no to the homemade peach pie that his brother made (w/ice cream of course)... and since we didn't have dinner when we got back yesterday, i stopped at the store for a few things, and got a pizza... weigh-in is not going to be pretty, that's for sure...

i DID go to the gym today and burned 600 calories on the eliptical... it felt good to be active after such a lazy weekend and i had a big bowl of fruit w/yogurt for lunch... not sure what i'm having for dinner yet but i'll keep it healthy...

we'll be going to texas in a few weeks for a wedding - eric's whole family is going and i've been told that these things can get pretty crazy... i dread travelling since its hard to be OP 100% but was told the hotel has a gym and i plan on using it... being there will be BBQs and alcohol galore (the wedding is on a horse ranch), i'm going to exercise everyday and just enjoy myself... of course i enjoyed myself at the beach a few weeks ago and haven't lost what i gained there either... oh well, i'm not going to worry myself sick about it - i'm tired of feeling guilty for having fun... i'm realizing more and more that life is just too damn short and if i'm meant to be this weight, then so be it...

happy monday...

TGIF

let me first begin by saying thank-you to those that left comments on my post the other day (esp. for the skinny minnie part!)... i AM very thankful for the loss this week but you know how it is when you lose/gain the same pounds over and over... then seeing that i hadn't lost any inches, was just the icing on the cake... i'm really not one to rant/rave about things but for some reason, wednesday was a bad one for me... i didn't want to go to my pilates class but forced myself to go anyway - and i did feel better afterwards... maybe i need to start doing that w/my exercise routine in general, just do it regardless of whether i want too or not... i totally amazed myself yesterday and jogged 40 minutes on the treadmill (a first, ladies and gentleman) so maybe there is hope for me yet... :o)

did anyone watch the U.S. open match last night with andre agassi? oh my god, that game was so intense! we stayed up for the whole thing and then i probably laid in bed for another hour because i was so energized from watching it... talk about loving the sport you play - these guys were amazing!

the weather here in DC is rainy, chilly and depressing - so much for a nice labor day weekend... we'll be leaving for pennsylvania in the morning so hopefully traffic will be light and the weather will be cooperative... i've packed warm clothes, including a fleece pullover, and i can't wait to wear it (yea, i'm weird)... i'm excited to hang out w/eric's family, they are a great bunch of people and so laid-back... :o)

hope everyone has a great holiday...