Inflatables, Running, and Peanut Butter

Well, I missed my blogging yesterday. Mostly because I was exhausted. I'm not sure why because I got enough sleep... I think I'm still recovering from the weekend. My mom, sister, and niece came to visit. We took my niece to a place where they have a bunch of inflatables to go on. She wasn't so sure about going on the inflatables, so finally in the last 5 minutes we had I took her down the slide, which she absolutely loved and we did many times, so this was my big workout yesterday:

Yup, taking a 30 pound toddler up an unsteady inflatable and sliding down with her. I was dripping with sweat by the end! After that, we went to Sam's Club and mom bought us groceries, which I will get to a little later. I got home just before Brian, and I was completely beat. Brian was also extremely tired so we went and cuddled up close and took a nap. It was really nice. I finally forced myself to do my yoga at about 10pm and then went to bed.

Today, I really didn't do anything interesting. I worked on crocheting my purse and watched a movie and chatted online with a friend. Tonight was running night and I was completely determined to do better than last time and at least get in a mile. Starting out was rough tonight. I did manage to get through a mile and I let my body take over and feel the beat of the music. I told myself there is no reason I can't do as good as my best amount, so I did another mile and a half and I was still ok so I wanted to make sure I added on a lap like my goal for each time is. I added on two more laps, for a total of, YES, 2 CONSECUTIVE MILES!!! I walked a lap and then ran a lap, and then I was out of time to get back in time to watch a tv show with Brian, so I came back home. I decided on the way back that I think I want to start running everyday instead of every other when the weather is nice, and maybe double up doing yoga some of those days. We'll see what happens, though.

I may be finding people to work out with. I was supposed to go work out with a girl today but she never ended up texting me and there is another girl I've been emailing. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I found them on Craigslist through the "strictly platonic" section, but what can I say... I'm desperate and lonely and I really need some people around here to talk to. I even posted my own. I guess we'll see how that goes.

In other news, I still haven't heard back from my interview on Monday and I never got a call on another I had applied for and I haven't found too much worth applying for. I think I might go apply at Starbucks tomorrow.

Also, I had promised I would get back to my groceries. I need to take this time to tell you about an amazing find at Sam's Club, at least if you like peanut butter. We found this peanut butter and it is called "Naturally More". I highly recommend looking it up, but it has less sugar, good fats, and proteins. It has flax seed in it, which adds a nice texture and flavor. I was in a snacky mood and I wanted to try a little to see what it was like. I ended up eating a few spoonfuls, and those few completely satisfied both my appetite and my craving for something sweet. I love it!

Well, enough advertising for tonight. Until tomorrow...

What a weekend!

Well, Friday night was the night my friend from Cali was in town. We went to go drink with her. It was a ton of fun, and I drank way too much. The second best part of it was that I finally put on a shirt that I bought a year ago and have been waiting to actually fit into. So here it is, the big debut!:



I also struggled all night with keeping my pants from falling down too far. I bought a belt today.

Anyway, Saturday we headed back and made a pitstop on the way. This week is my Grandpa's 82nd birthday, so we stopped to talk for a while. It was a good time. My parents came to spend the night at our house that night so we could leave for the Brewers game in the morning. I stayed up until after 1 on only drunken sleep, and woke up a little after 6, so I was super tired all day. On top of that I drank before and after the game, as well. It was a good time. It was the first game I've been to. We were way at the top and we actually won the game. My sister's friends were a bunch of drunken idiots, as usual, and no one around them was at all impressed. It was an interesting time, as usual, and we even ended up seeing more than one person there from our hometown (which only has a population of 1000, so seeing even one person in that many people is pretty exciting!) I rode back here with my sister and she came to see our apartment. I was completely exhausted by that point, so I fell asleep on the couch and then went to bed at 10.

Today, I had an interview at 1. I'm not sure that I'll get it. My interview was supposed to be at 1, and 2 other people showed up for interviews, and the person that interviewed me showed up after 1:20. We didn't have a room to go into, so I had to be the first to interview in front of the other two. I was not a fan of that! I'm still waiting to hear back on another job that I had applied for last week that sounded like it could be promising. I guess we'll see.

My workout today sucked. I actually managed to get Brian to come with me, which maybe was the problem? I don't know, though. I think it was all the drinking I did this weekend, too. I did not even 3/4 mile at the track and we had to go to the track a little bit farther away, which is not even a good track. It's uneven and cracked all over. We walked back and I was super disappointed in myself, so I decided to go rollerblading. I did better than I usually do with it, but they were rubbing my legs in a bad way and I didn't want to push it. I can definitely feel it in my hips tonight, though. Other than that, tonight's been pretty uneventful.

Tomorrow my mom is coming to take me to Sam's Club and she's bringing my other sister along with her. I'm pretty excited to take my niece to one of the places around here for little kids. It is a place that has just a bunch of inflatables and they have different age levels, so it should be perfect for her! Well, I'm going to watch tv with the hubby and fall asleep. Good night, all!

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

Well, it rained ALL DAY today. As if we hadn't gotten enough. There's quite a bit of minor flooding around here. Last night I finally started on a crocheting project. It's coming along quite nicely. I'll post pictures when it's done. I tried hard to stay motivated today and get things tidied up around the house. It didn't work well. I'm beginning to accept the fact that it's not going to be very clean for this weekend. Tomorrow, I will try to get some things done, but I need to get ready to go for a 3 hour drive to meet up with friends. I'm beyond excited for this weekend. My friend moved to Cali in December, and I haven't seen her since. I cannot wait! We're going out with her and some other old friends on Friday night, then Saturday we're heading back here and my parents are coming to spend the night. Sunday we're going to a Brewers game with my sister and some other people. I've never been to a game, so I'm pretty pumped. Hopefully with the hectic weekend, I don't get thrown off of my exercising too badly. When I end up in situations where I don't get to exercise, I sometimes tend to quit for months at a time. I know I can get back on track this time, though!

This is officially the best workout trend I've been on so far since gaining all the weight. I could see I had lost some weight in my arms, and I had taken measurements before, so I measured myself again. The only measurements I could remember off the top of my head were my stomach and my arms. I am proud to announce that I have lost 1 inch on both my arms and my stomach! Even Brian said he noticed when he had touched my arm that it was smaller. I was pretty excited! Another reason I am excited tonight is that I have always been bad at following plans. Right now the yoga I am doing every other night is a 6-week "Skinny Jeans Yoga" routine set. I am also proud to announce that I am officially onto weeks 3 and 4! I am beaming inside knowing I made it through a full 2 weeks. These next 2 weeks are a bit more intense. It starts out the same, but then it gets pretty tricky. I hope I can see some great improvements by the end! I know I will.

I also joined a new weight loss site. It's called "Calorie Count". I'm hoping in addition to blogging that will help me stay on track. I spent a little time at the forums posting and replying. I'm hoping to find some inspiration, motivation, and support there.

Oh, I almost forgot! I have an interview on Monday. I won't say where yet, but I'll just say that if I get the job I will hopefully have an easier time with my weight loss goals. I also applied for another job that sounded like it could work out perfectly for me. My fingers are crossed!

Until next time...

Double it Up

Tonight I did take 2 of running night. The weather was perfect tonight. I was struggling slightly more with running tonight. After the first lap, I was feeling pretty weak, but, as I said before, I ran over a mile before and there's no reason I can't do it again. My goal is to add a lap onto each night I go, so I did 1.5 miles. I KNOW I can do better than that. I did one walking lap and then I put in another mile. It was slow, but I did it. As I've said, endurance before speed. I'm getting there. I just need to add on another mile before the end of August when I plan on running my first 5k at the Athens fair. My goal is to keep up with my sister. I'm not sure if that'll happen since she's been running for over 2 years now and I just started.

Other than that, today I cut up another old item of clothing to make some "yarn" with. I want to practice making something so I can make it out of that. I'm hoping it looks as cool as I am hoping!

In fact, I'm going to go work on that right now. Later.

I take it back...

So, I take back my weather comment from last night's post. It came to my normal time for running tonight, so I got ready. I looked outside and the sky was blue from what I could see. I thought maybe I heard a little rumble but I wasn't sure. When I got outside the storm was still a little ways off. I figured I could maybe get in a few laps before the rain came. The track is only a block away from my house. On the way the patch above it was completely clear. By the time I got there, the sky was completely dark with clouds and I could see flashes. I'm a wuss and didn't want to get electrocuted so I headed home after one lap. I wanted to get somewhat of a run in so I decided to go down the block before and at least get a tiny bit extra in. I got halfway down the block when I started getting pelted by a few pieces of hail. It started to come down more so I stood under a tree til it turned back to rain. I booked it back to our apartment completely disappointed, absolutely pissed, and slightly drenched. I came in ranting to Brian and all of a sudden it starts hailing more and bigger and it was super windy. It was pelting the window. Brian was actually kind of scared. It ended after just a few minutes. It didn't really last long at all. We went and peeked out the door to see our road covered in hail and leaves and our cars plastered with leaves that blew onto them. Our road was flooded and our lawn was covered in icy chunks. It was crazy. So, I never got my run in. I was really looking forward to it, too! Here's some pictures of the hail:
Other than that, today was uneventful, as usual. I did dishes, folded a few clothes, and got distracted. I was trying to get rid of clothes so I weeded a few out. The patterns and colors on them were so pretty, so I decided to cut them into strips so I can crochet them into something. The first item I took my scissors to was a dress I had gotten for the barn dance a few years ago. The pattern and colors of it were gorgeous, the fit, however, was not. It took me three hours to cut it all apart. I can't wait to try making something with it! I'll let you know how it goes.

So, I figure I need to put some pictures here for reference. I guess mostly my own, since I am pretty sure nobody else is reading this. (is anyone out there?) First, here's my past weight struggles and strengths. I was always the chubby kid, at least I always thought so. Part of it is my farm girl build. I naturally have bulky leg muscles. I've always struggled with liking them. In my much younger days (11-14 or so?) I topped out between 150-160. Around 8th grade I slowly started losing, getting down under 150. At age 16-17 I was at my lowest at the lower 140's and I was in pretty good shape. When I got closer to 18 I slowly began to gain, and slowly lost the great confidence I had gained. I'll admit it, at my lowest I was pretty damn hot. I was a hit with the boys, I felt great about myself, almost anything fit me. I was up to about 160 when I started college. Well, of course the first year of college brings the "freshman 15", which for me was the Freshman 20-25. I had Taco Bell as part of my prepaid meal plan, and of course I drank way too much. Last spring I was at my top weight of at least 190. I'm not positive because I didn't have a scale. I worked at a chocolate factory and spent my time on the couch watching tv with Brian. I started using the wii fit and got a little too intense. My back went out completely, which derailed my working out. I went to the doctor and he told me it was because I was simply too fat. (He told me not to eat cheese. I'm from Wisconsin. Get real!) He pointed out that I had gained 10 pounds a year for the past 4 years. Nevermind the fact that I was 16 at the time and still developing hips and boobs. I did agree with him, however, that I needed to lose some weight. This first picture is from right after that:


This picture completely grossed me out when I first saw it. It still does. This was around the upper 180's. This is me recently:


This also makes me feel a little gross. I believe I have lost some weight since then. Probably about 5 pounds or so. I think I can see it in my face and arms for sure, but it's hard to say, since I see myself everyday. Recently, I got down to 175. Due to fluctuations for monthly reasons, I have been maintaining the mid-upper 170's. Since I have reached 175, which was my last goal, I am now going for my goal of 170, but, like I said, I am not necessarily in it with a goal of simply losing weight. I want to make progress in many ways. I want to see muscle tone (which I am starting to see slightly), flexibility, endurance, motivation, and any other accomplishments that I see popping up along the way. I know that overall all of those will keep me going. I've gone before going for weight loss, and I ended up depressed I wasn't losing fast enough or didn't think I was seeing improvements and would end up quitting. It was the same with going for noticeable body change. Recently, I've been feeling that depressed feeling, but the other accomplishments have helped motivate me to keep up with it.

Well, this post has gotten pretty long already, so I won't bore you with anymore details. Good night, all!

Finding Motivation

Well, Friday was pretty unproductive. I didn't feel well all day, so I ended up watching tv and I didn't do a workout. My one day off for the week. Saturday we went to Paperfest because some deep-fried cheese curds sounded amazing. They weren't that great, though. I was looking for the traditional Wisconsin fair beer-battered fried cheese curds. Healthy, I know. These were just your standard quality, fast food type cheese curds. Oh well. My eating all weekend was equally terrible. I don't know if it was having Brian around constantly wanting to eat something greasy and calorie filled or what.

Sunday was a little better, at least as far as being productive. We went and did some grocery shopping and tool shopping for Brian. When we got home, Brian started watching one of those tv shows about hoarders and got into cleaning mode, so we started sorting and cleaning stuff. We didn't get all that far, but any improvement is better than none. I took my run later than usual, but since I had already skipped Friday, I knew I had to make myself go. I know how I am and that missing once makes me want to keep missing a night until I completely stop and any progress I've made goes out the window. It was another sunny night, which was nice because every yoga night has been rainy and it happens to be that the nice nights are running nights. So I headed to the track and since I had done a mile last time, there was absolutely no excuse for why I couldn't this time, and I really wanted to add more onto it. I managed to do 1 1/4 consecutive. Adding one lap at a time is pretty good. I decided to walk one lap and then maybe see if I could try to bust out another mile, but as I was finishing my walking, Brian showed up on his bike. I ran one more lap and we decided to go to Walgreens to rent a movie from the redbox. He raced back home to grab a credit card and off we went. I ran a little of the way. We had to wait forever because there was a line, so we went and got drinks. I got a chocolate milk to follow my run and we got a movie and left. I ran the 3/4 mile back. It was pretty cool to have Brian there pushing me and motivating me. I felt really good when I was done.

Tonight was yoga night. It was the usual. Thursday I get to move onto the next routine in the 6 week program thing. It looks quite a bit more challenging. We'll see how it goes.

So, to occupy my time while I'm unemployed and maybe make some extra money, I've been deeply pondering the idea of starting up crocheting and selling on etsy.com. I found a bunch of free patterns online, but the more I look at them, the more I lose ambition to do it. Even the simple ones are challenging for me. I have troubles trying to read the patterns and understanding what the heck it is they want me to do. Even on the easy ones. Perhaps I need to check for some video patterns. I'm a visual learner. I learn absolutely nothing from reading. I even read the reviews to see if there was something that was unclear about the pattern or if anyone else was having troubles, and everyone just raved about how easy and wonderful the pattern was. We'll see if I can get started on this. I don't know.

Other than that I've been feeling pretty down lately. I don't know if it's hormones or loneliness... I wish I could find a job that would work right now so I could maybe try to connect with someone around here and find friends. I got so desperate the other day I actually started browsing on Craigslist in the "Strictly Platonic" section. Also, I have reached that mark I get to once I start exercising regularly, where I start thinking my body hasn't made any changes and it never will. I'm trying to keep reminding myself that it's about more than trying to be skinny, it's about being healthier. I'm trying to focus on the positive improvements I've made like finally running over a mile and becoming more flexible. Hopefully that will help keep me going instead of quitting again.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. I'm not in the mood to think of any more exciting ending than that, and no one's reading this anyway, right?

There's a first time for everything.

Today I ended up sleeping longer than I wanted. Brian left to get to work by 8 and I woke up and it was 10:30. I was hoping to be awake before that, but I guess when you have nothing better to do and you're used to sleeping that late for a couple months already, it's bound to happen. I started out by watching Bridezillas with my friend. Just like old times, except via text message. It was fun, but then Brian came home and I didn't want to torture him with watching it on his lunch break so I recorded the rest and ended up getting into a productive mode instead of coming back to it.

I managed to get quite a bit accomplished. I put away the clean dishes and cleaned the kitchen a little. I got the bathroom somewhat organized finally and mopped it. It looks so much better! I also unpacked another box from the garage as well as unpacking and rewashing the huge box of clothes out there. I folded some, and that's about all I could get done before Brian came home.

Tonight was running night, and it couldn't have been a more beautiful night for it. It was sunny, it was warm but not hot, there was a soft breeze. It was great. So was the running. Last time I didn't do so well on endurance, but I was convinced I could pull it off this time. I had done two consecutive laps before, there was no reason I couldn't do it again. I started with one and pushed for two. Lap two was uncomfortable but you don't gain anything by babying it just when you're feeling it, so I went for 3. By the end of 3 the endorphines were kicking in, the pain seemed a little more faint, and if I was going for 3, why not 4? So I did 4. That's right. Four laps around a quarter mile track for a total of... you bet! 1 MILE!!! Unbelievable. I have NEVER in my life ran one consecutive mile. No it wasn't fast, but I was going to endurance, not speed. I was SO proud! I followed with one more mile of walking the straight then running the remainder, for another 3/4 mile total to add on to that. After that, I felt like I was going to pass out, so I didn't push it. I walked another 2 laps and headed home, beaming.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I'm hoping to get a lot more done tomorrow.

Onto another day... It can only bring more great things.

Stormin'

Today brought some rough weather. We ended up with 2 big storms with a lot of weather warnings. They ended up just being windy with heavy rain and lots of lightning. Nothing too severe here.

Yesterday, I managed to get a lot done. I planted 6 plants, did dishes, unpacked some boxes, did 3 loads of laundry, and made supper. I also put in another 2 miles at the track. I could definitely feel the couple days I slacked off. I did manage to run 1 9/16 miles out of that. I don't have endurance yet, so I'm still working on that. I'm getting there slowly. I started out with one lap. I knew I couldn't bust out another so I walked the straight and then I ran from the curve back to the beginning. I did that for the remaining laps. On the last two laps I sprinted to the end. Man, did that feel good. My legs felt so strong (yet weak and tired) when I was done. I was only one pound away from my first weight goal yesterday, also.

This morning I weighed myself, and guess what. I made my goal! Now I'm going for another 5 pound goal! Today I wasn't quite as productive as yesterday. I got ready to go to the DMV and made sure I looked as good as possible. I pride myself on being one of those people who gets complimented on their driver's license picture. I know, lame. I was so proud to have my very first big girl license! Anyone not from Wisconsin probably wouldn't understand what I mean by that, but unless someone actually reads this (yeah, right!) and would like to know, I won't go into detail. Then I went to the store to grab a few things. It was just the dollar store so I got a lot and didn't really spend much. Other than that, I got a couple loads of laundry done and watched the storm with Brian.

Tonight was yoga night. I started with 5 rounds of fat-burning yoga like usual. I had noticed I was starting to slack a little on my form and wasn't getting as good of a workout from it as I should, so I tried really hard to focus on form and breathing. Then I did my Skinny Jeans yoga, and since I had actually focused I was dripping with sweat and completely pooped. I couldn't even bust out another 5 rounds of the fat-blasting. I can tell I've made a lot of progress with my form and flexibility. My heels are only about an inch off the ground on Downward Dog, and for the first time in my life I can touch the floor without bending my knees. I can see my leg muscles starting to form again and I am absolutely loving it!

Lately I've been really good about eating, too. Snacking is at a minimum because I'm just not hungry for it. Brian being ready for a meal has been my ambition to eat for the last two days, other than breakfast, which I am usually starving for! My mood has improved and so has my self esteem and confidence. I think sticking with this will be easier than I thought.

Well, that's all I really have for tonight. Here's to another healthy day!

Slacker.

Ok, so the last few days, I've been slacking... on the blog writing as well as a little on exercise.

Saturday Brian and I cleaned the apartment and rearranged the bedroom. There's still a long way to go, but it's better. I got in a good amount of yoga... 5 repeats of my fat-blasting flows, my skinny jeans routine, then 5 more fat-blasting. After that, I added in a couple other exercises for my abs and legs.

Sunday my dad called and my uncle and cousins from Georgia are up, so he wanted to know if I wanted to come hang out with everyone. Since my middle sister was going to be there, and I haven't seen her since our wedding, it was definitely worth the 2 hour drive there. Before Brian and I went to Walmart to grab a couple things and to get the right batteries for my scale. We came home and I put the batteries in quick so I could see where I was at. I was at my low from right before the wedding. Not bad. Brian weighed himself, too. Not good. Not standing and running around all day at a job caused him to gain about 10 pounds. Anyway, after that I headed to my parents' on my own, because Brian had stuff to get ready for his first day of work. I got there and my parents told me my sister wasn't coming after all... so I gave her a call and managed to convince her to come. I'm so glad she did. She wasn't feeling well because of some meds she's on, but my niece, Callie had SO MUCH fun! My cousin, Jenna, from GA was doing cartwheels on the lawn. Both of my neices (one's 2 1/2, one's 3 1/2) thought it was pretty cool. Sydney is in her bossy stage so she kept telling her what games they were going to play, and Jenna did a good job of playing along. Callie is in her imitation stage. So Jenna ran, did a cartwheel, ran to the porch, ran back out, and did it again. Well, Callie would run, plop down sideways on the ground in her version of a cartwheel, run to the porch, climb up, climb down, then go do it again. It was the cutest damn thing. I headed home later than I wanted to, but it was totally worth the 4 hours of driving. So, I didn't really get any time to do a workout, but I did a couple of the flows of fat-burning yoga just to make sure I did something at least.

Yesterday was Brian's first day of work. We stayed up til 2, because Brian usually doesn't go to bed much before that ever and we were watching a good show on tv. Well, I had to make sure he was up in time and he had to shave and everything so I set my alarm for 6:30. My phone isn't always super dependable, so because I was worried about it not going off I woke up around 6 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I laid there until it went off, then got Brian up. I made him a sandwich for lunch and sent him off to his first day of work. I felt like such a mom! They came with the tow truck to get his toolbox and blocked the whole road just for his little box. Then my parents came to pick me up and we went to Milwaukee to pick up Becca from the airport. We came back here after and ate at IHOP and then went to Best Buy and I helped her pick out a decent computer in her price range. Then I came home. I wanted to take a nap, but Brian would be home soon and I never managed to fall asleep before he got here, so we ordered pizza for supper and watched the disks of Big Bang Theory we got and I ended up falling asleep for a while. Brian wasn't happy about that, but I was sooooo tired. By the time I woke up and felt like I was halfway awake it was already starting to get dark out, so I didn't get my run in. It was a little disappointing, but being tired and having a sore throat, I figured it just wasn't worth it to force it. I just HAVE to make sure I do it tonight. No excuses.

I wanted to get up this morning when Brian got up, but I was sooo tired. I ended up sleeping a little later than I wanted, but at least I can feel refreshed now. I'm so sick of looking at job postings. I want money so I'm almost willing to take just about any job I can get, the only problem is that would require I work weekends, and with almost every weekend left in the summer booked, it wouldn't work out. I can't start a new job that wants me to work at least every other weekend and ask for most of them off. They'd fire me in an instant. I think I'll get more desperate when school comes around and then I'll just accept the fact that working weekends is inevitable and at least I know I dedicated my summer to spending as much time with my family as I could.

Today, I am going to finish washing dishes, do some loads of laundry, unpack what's left in the upstairs bedroom and start carrying up stuff from the garage. Hopefully I can get that all done before 5 when Brian comes home. Tonight, I will go for a run.

This morning I weighed myself. I was happy with what I saw. I am almost to my first goal. I want to get there just so I can start on another! Looking at my legs now, I am starting to like them a little. They are starting to look a little muscular instead of just plain flabby. I also think I can see it in my face and arms. Those always seem to be the first places you can see weight loss for me. Face, arms, torso, legs, in that order. My view on what ideal has changed, which is excellent. I hate to admit I'm judgmental of other peoples' bodies. Before, I would look at someone who was super skinny without too much muscle in their legs or too much in their arms and think that was what I wish I looked like. That has switched. I think it started when I friend about the same size as I am was talking to me. She said "people like that are just too skinny"... we were at a volleyball game at the time, and she looked at a girl who I would've never considered ideal before and said "look at those leg muscles! She has nice legs!" I've realized that having muscle is more to be proud of. The way I'm built is naturally muscular in the legs. They could NEVER be small. The lowest jean size I would ever see is a 7 and I would be far too skinny at that point. I'm more of a size 10 at the lowest. I'd rather have tone in my arms. I look at people and sure they have skinny arms, but no muscle to be seen. People I used to look at and think they had terrible looking legs because they had so much muscle in them, I now find to be alright. It's funny how that changes. I've learned to appreciate my legs because of how strong they are, not hate them for being so big.

Anyway, I'm rambling, and I have a lot to get done.

Clap Your Hands

Well, this morning I woke up to my phone ringing. It was the employment agency. The job they were trying to get me into went with another candidate. Now I'm back to square one.

Since we know Brian has a job, we went out to eat for lunch. We got a coupon for free dessert at TGIFriday's because of Brian's birthday, so we went there. Broccoli Cheese Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks. Yum! Since we were both so full we didn't eat the dessert there, we got it to-go. It was a warm brownie with ice cream. Apparently the to-go order doesn't mean they keep the two parts separate, so either you have melted ice cream, or a frozen brownie. Either way, I can't wait to eat it! Because the ice cream was going to melt, we had to drive back home even though we needed to go to Walmart and it was right across the street. We also decided to go to Best Buy. Brian wanted a computer game and I wanted some new music. I managed to find Sia's new cd on sale. I had only heard the song "Clap Your Hands" and I love basically every song by her. This cd is in no way disappointing. I turned it on just before this and sat still for 2 whole songs just absorbed in it's awesomeness.

Also, when we were at Walmart, I got new batteries for my scale. There were two that were the same size around but they were different thickness. I guessed which was right, but of course I was wrong. I'd really like to weigh myself to know where I'm starting out, but I'll have to either wait, or hook up the wii fit, which we really don't have room for. We'll see, I guess.

Anyway, tonight I went for a walk/run. I lost count, but I think I did a full 2 miles around the track. What I do know for sure is that I did more running than walking, and it was definitely over a mile total. I ran in increments for as long as I could... until the discomfort of it started creeping towards pain. Then I'd walk. I pushed myself hard and it felt good. I tried not to think too much about it. I've read that thinking you can't do it will cause you to not be able to, so I tried to think about other things. Guess what got me through.... thinking about what I was going to write on here tonight! I guess this blog thing is working out better than I thought. My goal as of right now isn't really a certain weight, it's keeping up with exercising and having something good to write here every night, which is probably a better goal, because no matter how hard you try the scale can really disappoint. I mean, overall I have the goal of losing 20-40 pounds total, in increments of 5, but right now it's mainly seeing the progress I am making and blogging about it.

Back to the running... by the end of the running I was very aware of every muscle in my legs... although I'm sure some will start hurting I never even knew about tomorrow. I won't be the slightest surprised by not being able to move painlessly tomorrow, but that just makes me feel more accomplished. The biggest change comes when you get to that uncomfortable point. Depending how I feel, I may ease back on my workout tomorrow, but I'll try to do something, at least.

I almost forgot... this morning I got my new arms for my office chair. I bought this chair for $80 on sale a couple years ago and barely used it. Right after we moved Brian sat in it and the arms broke to pieces and the back fell off, making him fall backwards off the chair. I'm not the type to bitch about things, but I wrote them an email upset about what happened and at the idea of having to spend a lot of money on another one I like as much as this one, especially not having any money. I sent in the complaint and they made me file a warranty request with pictures and stuff. Brian questioned me whether it was really worth the 5 minutes of effort. I never got a reply saying if I was getting new parts, but I got them! It's so nice to have the back on the chair again!

Other than that, nothing else to write about right now. I'm going to try to convince Brian now to eat that dessert!

Love the Pain

Today was pretty uneventful. I got a call from one employment agency I've been wanting to get in contact with for a while. Because of my school schedule they don't have anything that would work right now for me, but they'll let me know if they get anything. Then another contacted me later and he said he'll let me know if anything they have will work. Otherwise, no response on the one the other employment agency was trying to get me in to, and no response from the guy that contacted me yesterday. He had told me to call him, but of course I don't have his phone number!

However, Brian got a call from the one he interviewed for. They forgot to ask for his license to make sure it's valid and he's ok for their insurance purposes. We drove over so the guy could make a copy and the guy told him he has the job! I'm so excited. I think it'll be a great job for him. Overall, it sounds like a really awesome opportunity. Plus, it takes a little pressure off of me, because we at least have some income coming in!

Today I ate: A bowl of cereal, Mac N Cheese and Hot Dogs, some plain yogurt with some frozen fruit, some delicious Cheesy Brat and Potato Soup I came up with, and a bowl of popcorn. OK, I guess...

Tonight was yoga night. You're supposed to take a day off between doing more muscle building activity and more cardiovascular, so I'm going to be alternating between yoga and running, when possible. I did 5 sets of the Fat-Burning Yoga flows, then the Skinny Jeans Yoga routine, then 5 more sets of the flows. I could feel the soreness still from when I did it a couple nights ago. My arms were sore by the end, but they had that post-exercise bulk and tone. I felt pretty accomplished.

Tomorrow hopefully I'll start working on changing my name everywhere now that I have my Social Security card. There are so many places I need to update it!

Well, it's after midnight and there's an Art competition show on that I'm interested in, so until tomorrow... well... today... good night.

And the running begins...

Well, today was a pretty successful and uneventful day.

The employment agency called and they're presenting my information to for the job. I had to take an accounting competency test. I'm honestly not sure if I did all that well. I haven't heard from them yet. I may have an interview with them soon and if they accept me I'll start this Friday. I got another reply from a job I had applied for off of Craigslist. It's just for Quickbooks help for the guy and his wife. They'd pay me as a contractor instead of on their payroll. Maybe that'll work out for me, too and I can be making decent income. Brian hasn't gotten a call back yet, but they were going to get a hold of his old boss first and then I'm pretty sure they were going to hire him, from the sounds of it.

Today it was hot and humid, so we decided we needed to get some air conditioning units. We got one for the living room and one for the bedroom. It felt amazing.

Diet-wise I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, Panda Express for lunch (half there, half a few hours later), and another taco thing for supper. Other than that a couple bites of cookie, a Pepsi with lunch (because she apparently didn't understand I asked for Diet), and just now some carrots with veggie dip. Not too bad.

I could definitely feel that yoga from last night. First I felt it in my hamstrings, then I could feel it in the abs, now I can feel it in the shoulder blades, too. What a great feeling! Today I finally got the guts to go for a run. I actually did waaaaaay better than I thought I would. I did 4 laps around the track. First lap was all running, then one all walking, then I did half and half for the last two. The burn from running is such an amazing feeling. I'm going to try alternating the two.

Well, I'm not too ambitious to write tonight. Time to watch some tv with the hubby.

Brian's Birthday

Today is my husband's birthday! He referred to it as "his first adult birthday" because it consisted of sitting at home and a job interview. I tried to make it special by making tacos, one of his favorite meals, and a big chocolate chip cookie in the shape of a heart.

His job interview went well. He thinks he'll get hired, and he should make at least what he was making when he left his other job. He told me the things he likes and the things he doesn't like about what the guy said and I think he should be pretty satisfied with it overall.

I got another call from the employment agency. They were working on getting in contact with my references and trying to get me into that job ASAP. We'll see what happens, I guess.

Diet-wise today I was ok, I guess. My breakfast was waffles and breakfast links. I ate half of my waffle and the links and decided I didn't need anymore. I was pretty satisfied with myself for that. Lunch was a frozen pizza. I wasn't too happy about it, but Brian was hungry and I still needed groceries before I could make tacos, so I ended up eating half. I drank water all day and only one Diet Coke. For supper I made the tacos and I made it more of a taco salad. The lettuce was probably negated by the amount of sour cream. I believe I like sour cream more than the average person. Damn my love for pretty much anything dairy! After that, I made the giant cookie. I ate a decent portion and I shouldn't have ate all of that. I ate the last bite and instantly felt like puking. Waaaaay too much sweet. With that was a glass of milk. It's a start to trying to eat better, I guess.

I was determined I would have something good exercise-wise to write about today. I printed off a bunch of the exercise routines I've been bookmarking that get emailed to me from Woman's Health Magazine. I did the "Fat Burning Yoga". It's two flows consisting of 3 poses each. They looked a little easier than they were. It said to go through the flows and repeat 5-10 times. Considering it's about 90 degrees and humid in our apartment and I haven't worked out in a while, I pushed through the 5th one and left it at that. I'll have to work my way up.

Also in my bookmarks was a pretty cool site I had forgotten about.
http://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/calculator/calorie-counter

Tomorrow I'm getting serious about this. I told Brian we're both going to work at eating better starting tomorrow (since I was making the cookie today). Hopefully I'll have some more good things to write about then.

In other news, my goldfish is starting to turn white. I googled it and it said it's normal... He seems pretty active and healthy. I guess we'll see...

4th of July Weekend

Well, this past weekend was the 4th of July. On Friday, I had an interview with an employment agency. They have one opening that would work perfectly with my schedule and pays pretty decent, however, it's an accounting position. Yes, I did go to school and I hold an Accounting degree, but, the truth is, I have no desire to be an in-depth accountant. I think I could handle pretty much everything on the list, the only thing I'm nervous about is financial summaries. That is the exact moment in class when I said "Being an accountant is not for me. I do not want to do that." She's supposed to call tomorrow to see what I think about the job duties and discuss if I think it'll work. I guess we'll see what we decide and what the job decides.

Brian did get a lot closer to finding a job, though. He has an interview tomorrow for a job he didn't even apply for. The guy heard about him word of mouth from the parts guy here who heard from the parts guy back at his old job. Hopefully that goes well. He also has an interview with a used car dealership on Wednesday, and he had turned in his application at the big dealership chain around here and I'm hoping I can convince him to call back on it, because he really needs to.

After the job searching we headed out of town and on the way we picked up my wedding ring from being saudered finally. I really missed it! We stopped at my grandparents' halfway to get some meat from my parents for Brian's parents, and I felt bad rushing out but we had plans with friends and it was already going to be 10 by the time we got in town. We went and hung out with our friends... nothing too exciting, just hanging out and chatting. Saturday after we woke up we went to the park to pick up our nephew to take him to Brian's mom to watch. He's started talking so much now! He's sooooo cute! Brian went off and played with him the whole time while his brother's girlfriend and I sat and talked. I love watching Brian play with our nieces and nephew. He's so good with them. I can definitely see him being a great dad someday.

We headed out to Brian's parents' house and played with Noah and the dogs and then his brother and girlfriend came to hang out for a while. Nothing too exciting. Noah got kind of excited about fireworks so we went and bought some more to light off. So we ended the night by lighting off a bunch of fireworks and blowing up some mole holes with them and we helped light some off at the bar down the road. I got a lot of great pictures using the fireworks setting on my camera.

Sunday it was humid and overcast. We woke up late and Noah was already down for his nap. His mom said she was hoping it wouldn't rain because she promised him a ride on the "choo choo" at the park. He woke up and the first thing he said sleepily was "we're going for a ride on the choo choo!" So, we headed into town to try to beat the rain and ride the train. I barely had him unbuckled before he started grabbing at me to get him out of the car. We rode the train that wasn't enclosed and he actually sat on my lap the whole time. I was pretty surprised. We got rained on an little but he didn't care. After that we gave him back to Brian's brother and went home. We ended up napping for a while watching TV and when we got up it was time to pack up and go to the park to grill before the fireworks. They were way better than last year's, but it was so humid and the air pressure caused all the smoke to sit and the grand finale was just a bunch of flashes and booms behind the thick cloud of smoke. Not a spark to be seen. Despite sleeping in late and napping for quite a while, I fell asleep almost immediately after getting home.

Today, we went to get some of Brian's favorite Chinese food so his parents could celebrate his birthday a day early with him. After that, we headed to my parents' house. We decided to go out for ice cream for Brian's birthday with my sister since it was where my parents were headed, on the way back home for us, and where my sister lives. It was fun to spend time with my niece. She sure is goofy. We finally came back home, and here I am.

So, this weekend diet-wise I didn't do a good job at all. Exercise-wise... not good either. I have the desire to run, but I can never bring myself to actually go do it. I wish I had someone here to exercise with. So here's officially my plea for a partner. "If anyone in the Appleton, WI area reads this and would like to start working out with me, that'd be really great. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!" I think I'm going to print out another yoga routine and throw that in with my "skinny jeans" yoga workout. I am liking the yoga because I've never been overly flexible and I think it's helping, plus it doesn't take much for equipment, it's low intensity, but high in calorie burn, and I can watch TV with Brian while I'm doing it. I'm also going to try eating more veggies and drinking more plain old water.

In other news, I finally got my wedding pictures back. It sucks because they changed the uploader on facebook and it locks up my computer when I try to use it. So now, not only do I have Canada pictures, but also my wedding pictures.

Tomorrow is Brian's birthday. He has the one job interview and hopefully it goes well. I'm going to make him one of his favorite foods and instead of a cake a giant chocolate chip cookie, because I know he'll like that more. I already got him his tv I promised him. I'm excited I at least get to spend pretty much the whole day with him this year. This whole not having a job thing is pretty nice, other than only living off of our wedding money which is quickly disappearing and having things we would really stand to buy.

Oh well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts and hopefully we get jobs soon so we can keep some savings for something useful.

I'm off for now. Maybe I'll sneak in some yoga at some point tonight...

The Opening Lines

So, here they are... the first words in the blog I've been thinking about over and over again for days anxiously. The next chapter in my life. Now here I am, and I find myself entirely intimidated. Time to dive right in.

In the last many months my life has changed quite a bit. In December, I became a college grad, and in January I turned 21. Then it was busy busy busy with wedding planning. Then May came and that's when the changes really began. On the 8th I married my best friend. Emotionally and physically no changes, I guess, but now I'm a Simpson instead of a Belanger, which isn't quite legal yet, and hasn't really sunk in. At the end of the month I was done with my job and moving across the state 3 1/2 hours from his family and 2 from mine. I left behind a job that I loved and a few good new friends, which I was desperately lacking. I guess that sounds pretty crazy and I sometimes question why I would give those things up to go somewhere with no job and nobody I know nearby. In August I'm going back to school for Interior Design, and I've never been so excited about school... in fact, I don't know if I've ever been excited about school at all. There's a lot I can do with the degree, and if not, I'll just have a really expensively decorated home. Now I just need to find a job.

So the point of this blog is to document my adventures in starting over in a new town... finding a job, finding friends, going back to school, and being married... and then there's the real reason... I am determined to finally lose the weight I've been trying to lose for years now. My hope is that this will keep me motivated to keep up with it. Yoga, running, dieting... whatever I can find the ambition to do. So far I'm doing... not so well. Once we moved in we left within 24 hours for over a week to visit Brian's grandpa in TN. That meant a lot of sitting around not doing much... which was perfectly fine. It was great to finally meet him... but I'm pretty sure I gained a few pounds with all the wine tastings and fudge tastings. Then we came back for a little over a week. I did great then... other than dieting. I did yoga everyday and a few walks and bike rides. After that we were heading to Canada for over a week with my parents. I was determined to take my yoga with me, which, of course, didn't happen. I actually did quite well, though. The first couple days were spent in Niagara Falls, which meant lots and lots and lots of walking around. After that we spent time at my dad's cousin's house in the mountains. I didn't actively put effort into exercising, but we went out somewhat frequently and most of that time was spent walking. If only all of that wouldn't have been negated by all the McDonald's and junk food we ate on the car rides there and back. Now we're back home and so far I have done... nothing. I've done ok diet-wise, trying to incorporate plenty of veggies when I want a snack and somewhat healthy foods and portions. Brian and I managed to agree on going for a good bike ride, and that was a pretty good time.

Tomorrow I've got an interview with an employment agency and hopefully that goes well, and hopefully Brian gets a call on something tomorrow. Jobs would be more than excellent right now.

Well, here's to hoping I can keep up with this writing stuff, and with the weight loss.