Life as a "step-mom"

So, getting married 2 weeks ago made me more than a wife. I'm also now a Step Mom to Erik's 5 year old son. He was married before and had a child with her. Now she lives in the next town over, and they share custody. He gets Daniel every other weekend and every Wednesday. It's been this way since I met him so its nothing new. But the "title" is new. I was always just "Cindy". Now I'm Stepmom Cindy. Odd.

About 2 months ago I had a conversation with Daniel about it and said something to the effect of, you know when we get married, I'm going to be your "stepmom" but you can still call me Cindy. He said, no I'll call you "mom". I think it was just a spontaneous thing he said, but wasn't what I was going for. His mom is very cool in many respects and has never made me feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in his life. That said, he is her world, and I do NOT feel like she would welcome him calling me mom. I don't need that and don't have any desire to cause strife in his or her life. So we'll see - so far, he hasn't called me anything but Cindy but we'll see.

He's too cute, by the way, here's a couple pictures from our wedding:

In the first one he has one of the chair sashes on his head, in the second one he had to take off his shirt because someone spilled beer on it, so he put the vest back on anyway. So funny.

Anyway, tonight we are having our first "sleepover". Erik is picking up Daniel and two of his friends to spend the night. I think it's going to be fun, but it's a first for us, so I think its sweet. Tomorrow our town is having a parade for "founders day" so we're going to take the boys there. I'm sure by the time that's over, I'll be done being a step mom and be glad to ship the extra two 5 year olds off. :-)

It's weird being a mom even if it's only a "step" mom.

It's working...

217.0

FRIDAY

TGIF. Really. I'm not sure what went on this week but it's been so tough to be at work. I've been VERY unproductive, and really just kinda bleh about everything. Part of it is getting used to a new schedule. Holly and I try to carpool as much as possible to save money on gas and miles on the car. The problem is she just started a new schedule that is 10:30-7:00. Sounds fabulous right? She doesn't get to my house till 9:45 in the morning so I have "all" this time in the morning, right? Wrong. I sleep till 9:00 then get up and get ready. What's the deal with that?

Every day this week that I carpooled with her, I set my alarm for 8:00 thinking - that's still really sleeping in, and I can get up, run and feel great the rest of the day. What do I do? Snoooooooze. What the hell? It's not like I'm not getting enough sleep! We're asleep before midnight, so no excuse to lounge around till 9:00. WHY can't I get motivated?

I think it has to do with the fact that I haven't run in a little over a week. I think it's one of those things - when you get used to exercising, you crave it, or at least it feels normal, important. Maybe if I can be successful at running before work just 1 day next week, I'll enjoy it so much I'll be able to make it a habit. Grrrr.

So the good news is that I'm still alcohol free. Notwithstanding the fact that we've gone out EVERY night this week. Not usual for us, but for whatever reason, we did. Wednesday night we went to dinner and I drank Diet Coke while Erik drank Sake. Last night we went to Y-Knots - our normal Thursday night hangout - and I drank Diet Coke while Erik drank Gin. Boy is Erik loving my new found sobriety. He has a DD every day! But the good news is that even though I haven't been exactly good this week food-wise, the scale is going down.

I didn't weigh in yesterday because I knew it'd be a gain. I know, I know, bad excuse. But hey, I'm still staying on track regardless. I hope to weigh in next week. I'd like to get the scale back into the 215 area and below this week.

Small steps, though, right? This week the focus was on having fun without alcohol. Next week we need to get exercise back in. Starting this weekend. Erik has his son this weekend, so shouldn't be anything too crazy going on. No plans to go out tonight (for once) but I DO plan to get a run in. Tomorrow Daniel has a baseball game early, then I have a poker tournament I might play, but still no alcohol to be drank! Sunday is church and more exercise. I'm looking forward to this weekend very much.

Day 6 of Sobriety and still truckin!

St. Patty's Day!

221.6

MONDAY

SO much has happened in the last week. - why don't I post more often?!? Oh yeah, cause I'm CRAZY busy with everything except work. Go figure.

Anyway, Wednesday I did, indeed, buy a dress. I ordered my fabulous wedding dress, and it will be here mid July. Yeah - time to totally get crackin on this weight loss stuff! Holly also ordered her bridesmaid dress, and I've instructed Gloria to get me measurements for hers. I think I've also decided on the junior bridesmaid dresses, but I'm still thinking on that.

Wedding invitations went out on Thursday morning. Or at least most of them. Erik is still getting me addresses for several people, and I dropped another 10 in the mail today, but for the most part they're out. People have started viewing our wedding website, which is exciting. One person (a very reliable guy) has already booked his room. yeah!

House is about 2/3rds of the way packed. We are living amongst boxes, people. And lots of them. We spent about 4 hours on Saturday and another 2 last night packing. We have maybe 3 or 4 more to go. Hopefully that will get done tomorrow. Erik's begged off a reprieve for tonight after our very productive weekend.

Closing is set for tomorrow, and according to my lender and realtor all is good. We do our final "walk-through" tonight at 7:00.

I had a weekend retreat for work last weekend that was wonderful information-wise, but I had WAAAY too much wine on Friday night. not a good thing since I was with co-workers. I absolutely hate that I did that. I don't "think" I did anything stupid, but there are fuzzy spots near the end of the night, that tells me I just don't know. No one said anything at the meetings on Saturday morning, but I hate that feeling of wondering if you said or did something stupid. Very bad. I'm actually really pissed at myself for this. I shouldn't get drunk ever, but it's relatively harmless when I'm with my fiance, or close friends. With work people it's completely inexcusable, even if they do provide you with unlimited liquor & wine in the hospitality suite...

So, understandably Saturday I was hung over and feeling crappy - and thus eating crappy. Sunday was Erik's son's birthday party at his mother's house (Erik's ex-wife). That went well considering, she's actually very civil to me to my face at least. Besides, she was too busy being pissed at Erik for getting Daniel there later than she preferred ("what's more important, Church or your son's birthday?"... huh?) Whatever.

Got a little sun burnt yesterday, but I could use it.

Today I'm super slow at work, again. I've asked for work and been told that it's "coming". Since it's slow, I signed up for a CLE (continuing legal education) class all day Wednesday in an area I'd like to work in (White Collar Crime). It's being co-hosted by one of the partners in my firm, so it's a good networking idea anyway.

Hopefully things will pick up later this week. I've got to get some projects to work on!

Tonight after our walk-through I think we're going out, but I AM NOT GOING TO DRINK. Ok, I've said it in all caps so I have to follow through, right? I could probably lose 20 lbs b/w now and the wedding just by cutting out alcohol. Why is that so hard?

I'm so not ready to have kids.

Last WI: 215.4/At home WI: 214.6

THURSDAY

Well, it's been a crazy couple days. Tuesday night Erik had Daniel, but he put him down about 9:00 and came to bed and crashed out. I turned the light off about midnight and went to sleep. About 2:00 am I woke up to find that Daniel had come downstairs and crawled into bed with us. Now this is the 3rd time in a week that he's done this and I let the other two slide for various reasons. This time I wasn't going to let it because I don't want this to become a habit. Now, Daniel's mother lets him sleep with her. I know this. She's a single mom and I think she enjoys having him close. That's fine and all for her, but I think it's a bad habit, that 4 year-olds should sleep in their own bed and Erik and I have agreed on this. So about 2:00 am, I got up, picked up Daniel and put him in his own bed. He immediately started crying saying he couldn't sleep by himself. I told him he needs to go to bed or he'd get a spanking. He went. For about 3 minutes. I'd gotten back into bed and just a minute later, he comes down the stairs again. This time I wake up Erik to help - it's his kid after all. So he does. And for the next 3 AND A HALF HOURS we fight with the kid. We put him down, he gets up. We threaten to take away privileges, he gets up. We take away the privileges, he gets up. We spank him, he gets up. Truly from 2:00 am til 5:30 am we fight with this kid. We don't know what else to do. Finally he crashes out, after much crying at 5:30. I'm still expecting him to come back down though so I can't get back to sleep. Finally after Erik gets up at 6:30 to take him to school and go to work, I get back to sleep - till 8:00 when I have to go to work. All in all - 3 1/2 hours sleep. Needless to say Wednesday sucked. And I am SO not ready to have kids.

I had appointments at 9:00, 9:30, and 1:00 that I had to keep. After that though I bailed out and went home to sleep from 3:00 till 6:00. At 6:30 Erik calls on his way home to say he wants to go out and play poker. The game starts at 8:30 and its 20 minutes from our house. I had planned to go to the gym. (15 minutes away). So I figured I'll do what I can. I changed and jumped in the car. I got to the gym at 7:00 did 15 minutes on the elliptical then headed home, showered and was ready to leave the house by 8:00. Not the best workout but at least I did something.

Yesterday morning (after the night from hell with Daniel) my scale showed 214.2. A shock - I guess I earned some APs going up and down the stairs all night. This morning it was a little up. Not too surprising. Although I was "ok" yesterday I did eat at the bar we went to last night. No alcohol - so that's something - but I did have a prime rib sandwich, small salad, and a cookie from a plate of them my friend ordered (bad girl - tempting me!).

I had thought I might have to settle for a "maintain" this week, but it looks like I might see a loss (finger's crossed). At the beginning of the week the goal was to hit 214.0 or lower, but now I'd just like to see as close to 214 as possible. I'll probably see something in the mid-214's. Not bad. Just have to kick butt this week.

Which shouldn't be hard. No big plans for the weekend. I'm planning on trying to get in 6 miles. We do not have Daniel so at least we'll get some sleep. :-)

Poker and Alcohol - Required Together!

Last WI: 222.4/At Home WI: 220.0 (hope that's not a fluke!)

WEDNESDAY

Well, yesterday was perfect until the evening...again. I am totally weak at night even after a perfect OP day! I left work and went to the gym - ran 2 miles, then did the elliptical for a total of 6 APs. Not the 10 I'd hoped for, but my energy was just low so I took what I could get. I got home and had 9 points left for the day plus the 6 APs I'd earned. Erik had a friend coming into town from Michigan that he went to college with. His friend, Kevin, would be staying with us for two days. The tentative plan was for him to get in about 5:30 or 6:00 and we'd go to dinner. A little after 6:00 no boys and I'm starving, so I have a bowl of chicken noodle soup to tide me over (3pts). That still leaves me a good 12 points for dinner - totally doable with good choices. The boys finally get there about 7:00 and Erik decides he wants to go play poker.

Boooo!

We play at a restaurant called chaps, which I can totally eat ok at, but have the hardest times not drinking - particularly when playing poker. So we get there, we order, I make a good choice and order diet coke with my sandwich and salad - total of 14 points approx. Then about an hour into the poker game, I'm irritated by the people at my table and order a beer...then another. And you know where it goes from there. I ended the day with a total of 4 beers - and 8 unnecessary points. All in all I was 10 pts over for the day after eating my APs. Not horrible, but I didn't have them to spare after my Monday night splurge. I should NOT be splurging two nights in a row when I really need to post a good loss this week! Grrrr. The good news is that the scale was very friendly this morning - to the point that I think it was wrong but I was too scared to weigh again. I want so much to believe it's right. So I'm taking it and running with it and hoping to have my perfect day today. It's the day before WI and I have no choice, right?

The good news is that I've done TONS of exercise this week. Since WI I've earned 28 APs and plan for another 6 or so today. That is huge for me, so I'm hoping that will cover for the slips of the week.

Today I've had 7 pts so far for breakfast and snack. I havent figured out lunch yet as I'm trying to sneak out of work early so I may just have a bowl of soup I have and disappear around 2:00 or so - we'll see. Either way I am going back to the gym today. And at least I know I won't be tempted by alcohol tonight - Erik has Daniel and our house guest, so it's definitely a night it with the boys. I WILL make a good dinner for me, even if I have to be unsocial. Ideally I can eat just my target points and "bank" the APs for WI tomorrow. That's the plan man!

Good Weekend Considering...

Last WI: 222.4/At Home WI: 220.2 (woo hoo!)

MONDAY

I had a great weekend with only a few slips. Friday I executed my plan FLAWLESSLY! I had a salad for lunch with the Bride. I then went to the gym after work and ran 2 miles, walked 0.5 miles, and did some time on the elliptical for a total of over 600 calories burned (6 APs!). Then, ... GET THIS... I STAYED HOME friday night. Wow. Shocker. lol. The Bride invited me to go out for a movie with her and the roomie, and I declined. I was pooped after my work out and had a great dinner consisting of a tuna sandwich and some veggies. Great day.

Saturday I woke up to 220.4 on the scale, but it was the "slip day". Though not horrible at all. I started it off with a balance bar for breakfast (4pts) and then went to the gym and did a GREAT 3 mile run - fastest I've done in a long while, though not at all my best time. I then went to the grocery store and spent way too much stocking up on good food for the week. After that, the slip. I was supposed to go to the mall of Georgia with the Bride, but she got caught up doing bride stuff with her mom and didn't get done in time. So last minute I decided to go play poker at Three Dollar. Well, that was fine - I ate before I went and "allotted" myself 3-4 beers worth of points. Well, 3 hours and 5 beers later, a group of us decide to move the party to the Bride's house, and hang some more. Well, 4 hours, 4 slices of pizza and 5 MORE beers later, I'm headed home. Not horrible, but definitely not what I had planned initially for the evening. I had a good time though and didn't use ALL of my flex points in one day. lol. I still had 5 left going into Sunday.

Then Sunday - the perfect day. :-) Morning scale hopping showed 222.2 - to be expected after the "slip" Saturday, but I woke up to Erik and Daniel playing, and we went to church. I drove separately and had a balance bar on the way so I could go straight to the gym after church. I had a real tough run on Saturday so I opted to let my legs heal a bit and do the elliptical. 64 minutes and 1000 calories burned later, I was pooped. Went home, had a great lunch of steamed shrimp, rice and Green beans, then napped until 3:00. Headed to a friends house for a poker tournament and picked up Subway on the way for when I got hungry a couple hours in. All in all, I ate exactly my target points (28), earned 10 APs, but didn't eat a single one. Fabulous day.

So all in all it was a good weekend for me. Of late I've not counted points, splurged Thursday Friday and Saturday and had to try to make up for it on a hung over Sunday. Not this time. Only one "splurge" and it was controlled. Felt great on Sunday and had a great day then too. I'm very pleased, and hope to repeat this feat repeatedly. lol.

So today - I saw the scale down 2lbs, I think this could be a great week! 3 days will WI and I'm totally hoping for a 2+lb loss. I CAN do it. I had a turkey sandwich for breakfast with fresh tomato (5pts), 2 plums for a snack this morning (1pt) and am still figuring out lunch. The scary risk is tonight. We have our Monday poker league and we're hosting it at my house tonight. I generally like to have a beer or two with Monday poker, and I'll be providing some yummy (read fattening) snacks for the crew. So, the plan is this. I've got 22 pts remaining for the day. If I use 10 or so for lunch (subway anyone?) and get in some weight training after work (2APs) that leaves 14 for tonight. I'll have a filling dinner of something with lots of veggies, and try to save myself 4-6 pts for beer/snacks. I really should just avoid the beer. 2-3 beers isn't enough to even get me buzzed (sickly high tolerance) so it's really wasted calories. I wonder how strong my will power is. I'm going to have to think on it. The good thing is I've got some fresh broccoli and light dip I can put out that I love, so I'll have a healthy snack to choose. It's the beer that tempts me... Oh the life of an alcoholic.

Well, that's about it. I've got 110 days till the bridesmaid dress. I would LOVE to be in Onederland for the wedding. Here's hoping!

113 Days Till Bridesmaid Dress

Last WI: 222.4/At Home WI: 222.8

FRIDAY

Well, I lost 0.4 on my first week "back on the wagon". But Frankel, I've sort of only had one foot on the wagon. Last week there wasn't a single day I didn't go over my points and into flex. I did exercise a bunch but ate every one of those AP's. That's not the way to work this program. I know this. Why can't I make myself do it right? I always do really good during the day at work, and then get a craving for something on the way home and kill the whole day with taco bell or McDonald's. I know my weakness, now I need to fix it.

Yesterday I had a minor victory. I weighed in at 5:30 and, as usual after WI, splurged for dinner - taco bell again (see a pattern?). But then I did make the good choice NOT to go out drinking like I usually do on Thursday night. Granted, my DD couldn't make it, so I would not have been able to drink much anyway, but I chose to stay home regardless. The bad part is that I had "planned" to go the gym instead, but didn't. :-(

Well, I looked at a calendar today and discovered I have 113 days until my BF's wedding. 113 days till I have to squeeze into a bridesmaid dress. And hopefully look good! My DBF is a groomsman, so this will make for a great opportunity for some "prom" type pictures of us. We'll both be super dressed up.

I've decided my new mantra is "every calorie I deny between now and then is one less calorie in my body at the wedding". Ok, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but in general, every smart choice I make is one step closer to being where I want to be.

I talked to the bride today and she said that one of the other bridesmaids is on a diet as well - she's smaller than me but not by much - and had already lost 5 lbs. Well well well. Do we have a friendly competition going on here? I think SO. I can totally do better than that. :-) So, I've only lost 0.4 so far, but this can be a MONSTER week. I feel it.

Erik has Daniel this weekend so I'm thinking about just staying home tonight and tomorrow night. I have a date with the Bride tomorrow to go to the mall of Georgia to see Taylor Swift sing/perform. I also have a poker tournament on Sunday evening that Erik and I are going to. Other than that - no plans for the weekend. So here they are.....RUN RUN RUN. That's right. Tonight I'm going to try to do 3 miles on the TM. Tomorrow 2 or more, and Sunday 2 or more. That will be a minimum of 7 miles for the weekend and almost 1300 calories burned. Definitely a start. I'm going to try to eat only my target points, plus any AP's for the weekend. I need a good week to "jump start" this little competition. I have 16 more WI's before the wedding. I'd LOVE to average 2lbs per, but would honestly be happy if I lost 20 lbs between now and then.

I CAN DO IT!

So - baby steps. Today - I'm at work now. The Bride is calling me shortly to meet her and the groom for lunch and to go by the bridal shop. I WILL order a salad. After work I'm going to the gym. Then dinner will be a healthy choice at home.

That's the plan. NOW for the EXECUTION.

Brownies Are My Downfall

Last WI: 212.4/At Home WI: 214.0

MONDAY

Another Monday. I hate Mondays. But I know most people do. This weekend was nice in terms of social interaction, but not so nice food-wise. Friday was ok. I agreed to work as a dealer at a casino show in Atlanta. I did really well food-wise all day and ended the day just 2 points over my target, having gotten in all the healthy 8's. Saturday was a different story. I slept in because I was so tired from working the night before, and had a quick brunch about 11:00 before heading over to Erik's new house to help clean for an upcoming open house. His New House is a new construction house he built in Tyrone with plan of selling it pretty quickly. Sort of a "flip it" idea. Well, the housing market plummeted over the last year and he hasn't been able to sell it like he hoped. Now we need to spruce it up a bit for the summer - prime selling season.

Anyway, we went over there and I probably earned a couple AP's by scrubbing bathrooms, floors and weeding the flowers. Then we went to lunch at Wings 'n Things. Bad move. I had wings and fried mushrooms and fries. No beer fortunately because we had Daniel and the neighbor kid with us, but definitely too many calories.

Saturday night I went over to a friends house to deal a poker game for him. It was a great success financially (they tipped very well). I ended up having 4 beers while I was there, which would have been ok. I was a bit over for the day, but not horribly. Unfortunately though, the game went till after midnight and I was starving by the time I got out of there. I'd had Wings 'n Things at about 3:00 and nothing since. Poor planning! So a midnight Taco Bell run it was. BAD!!

Sunday was supposed to be the day I recovered - ate well - exercised. All was going smoothly till Erik pulled out a pan of fresh brownies he'd made for Daniel (and us). I had one, and it was all down hill from there. Erik took Daniel back to his Mother's house at about 5:00 and I just fell into a sugar induced coma. Way too many brownies were consumed. No exercise was had. Bad girl!

So, here I am. Another Monday. Another week of trying to make up for my bad weekend activities WW-wise. I have no flex points left, and am in the hole. I didn't really tally yesterday's indulgence since I didn't look at the box of brownies before Erik took out the trash. I know it was bad though. Nothing to do now, but be good the rest of the week, get in the water and exercise and hope for the best on Thursday.

Today I'm going to try to get in some of those AP's. We have our Monday night poker league at my house tonight so that should help. I'm leaving here shortly to hit the grocery store on the way home. Then I plan to walk/run at least 3 miles before people start showing up around 6:30. It'll be cutting it close, but I need this to feel better about myself!

Here's Hoping!

BACK ON TRACK, with a vengence!

Last WI: 214.2/At home weight: 213.2

(please please please don't be a lie)

MONDAY

Today is another one of those days where you step on the scale - see a good number and immediately get off and don't look back - hoping it's not a lie. Realistically, it could be true, but I'm skeptical.

So, Saturday morning's weight was horrific. 217.8. I figured it was a lot of water retention, but still I HATED seeing that number. So I got back on track with a vengence this weekend. After I blogged on Friday we decorated eggs and had the dinner I planned - WW pork roast with brown rice and green beans. Then we headed off to church.

We went to a different church than we've been to before. Technically, "we" don't have a church. Erik has a church he went to for years with his ex-wife and son. I've been several times and really do not like the church or the preacher. He's agreed to find a new church with me and we've tried a few, one that I think looks promising, though the one downfall is the contemporary service is at 9:00 am (traditional at 11:00) and we're not morning people on the weekend! Anyway, a good friend Holly invited us to go to her church for Easter. She goes to a huge non-denominational church that I've always heard great things about. We decided going to the Saturday night service would be nice because then we could putz around on Sunday and do the easter egg thing with Daniel. Unfortunately, Holly got the start time wrong (she usually goes to the Sunday service) so we were late, and very over dressed. Erik was in a suit, I was in black pants, nice blouse and sweater, Daniel was in a vest/shirt/tie combo. Turns out Saturday night is very casual - even on Easter. A few others were in suits, but most were in jeans, even sweat shirts on some! Not impressive to me, but ehh - to each his own. Anyway, we showed up at about 6:45 for a service we thought started at 7:00, but actually started at 6:30. Fortunately we just missed a lot of the singing - Erik's LEAST favorite part. We heard the sermon, and had a nice time.

Afterward - as planned - I went straight to the gym. Having driven separately, I made it there and had an "ok" workout. Turns out I left my Ipod at home. After I attempted to run in the afternoon, I forgot to put it back in my purse, so I ended up doing my run on the treadmill just listening to the very low volume music at the gym. The good news was that at 8:00 pm the Saturday night before Easter, the gym was pretty dead, so I pretty much had the place to myself, with a couple exceptions. I did 3 miles on teh treadmill. When I started out I simply did NOT want to do it. I had to tell myself in the first 3 minutes, that I had to get in at least 1 AP (~6 minutes) before I quit or walked. Fortuantely, it got a little easier after the first 5 minutes, and I ended up getting 3 miles in. I ran the first mile, walked .15 miles, ran .85, walked .15 and ran the lsat .85, then did a .25 mile cool down. All in all not bad but not good. I completed the 3 miels in 38 minutes. Very slow for me, but I don't care - I did it - and earned 5 AP.
Went home and crashed pretty early. Sunday my entire plan for the day was to veg with Erik and Daniel and get 6 miles in outside. I did part 1 until about 1:30 then I finally got the motivation to get outside. We've had a horrible cold front come through so I wasn't too eager about going outside. I mean this is Georgia in April. It's supposed to be in the 80's. Yesterday the high got up to 50 with most of the day in the mid-40's. BRRRRR. This is why I live in the south! I want summer weather to come in the spring and very short winters. Anyway - I got out there, in a pants/long sleeve shirt workout outfit. I had clocked the route on:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/

a site I LOVE, and was going to try a new 6 mile route. I had previously clocked a 5 mile route, that became my goal for the end of the summer - be able to run the entire route. Well, I decided if I wanted to set goals, I might as well set a tough one. A 6 mile run - when I can run the whole thing - is the perfect workout in my mind. When I run it, it takes me about 1 hour and I burn (at my current weight) over 1000 calories. I love that. So - I decided to strive for this 6 mile route as my new "goal" to run by the end of the summer.
So yesterday was my first attempt. I gave myself permission to walk as much as I needed which ended up being 39 minutes, compared to 34 minutes of running. Not bad actually. It's a very hilly route, and I ended up running the down hills and flat parts and walking the uphills for the most part. My calves were very sore, even from walking the uphills, so I know once I can master this route it will be a killer work-out. I was cold some of the time, bored some of the time, and just plain tired a lot of the time, but I got through it. There are a few places in the route where I could have taken a short-cut home, and believe me, the thought crossed my mind. But I persrrvered and got through it. I'm very proud of myself for that.

Eating-wise, I was good yesterday. I did have some chocolate, but was pretty good. Last night Erik dropped Daniel off at his mom's at 5:30 and we went to get some sushi for dinner. I love sushi and it's a great OP meal out. Then we met up with Holly and another friend Bec to watch Reign over Me - the new Adam Sandler movie. We got a large popcorn and large soda to split and I survived the (very long) movie only having a few handfuls of the popcorn. I counted it as 5 pts though, knowing how bad movie theater popcorn is - even without the added butter!
Over all I ended the day with 35 pts and 9 AP putting me at 27 - perfect.

So, this morning's weight could be right. I had lots of water and veggies yesterday and Saturday and obviously two great work-outs. Hopefully it's a true number. If so, I have a good chance for a loss this week!

Today has gone pretty well. I had my standard cheese and nuts for breakfast (gets me some protein and dairy in early). Got to work and realized I was moving offices today. A co-worker quit a couple weeks ago and his last day was Friday. He had a bigger office than mine and the boss ok'd the move, so I spent the morning re-arranging, re-organizing, and generally getting settled in the new office. I love it!

I brought left over pork roast and rice for lunch and didn't finish the 9pt bowl I prepared. I just got full, which is good. I had a huge 1 pt salad to start, so I'm sure that helped. Also lots of water. I've had 2 pts of popcorn this afternoon, and hope all that will tide me over till 4:30 when I get out of here. I'm going to fix a low point dinner before heading over to Holly's house tonight at 6:30. She's hosting our Monday night poker league tonight, so it should be fun. I'm not sure if I'm going to munch there, or drink any beer, but if I do, it will be counted and planned. I've got 13 points left for the day to do with as I wish. No work out today - still very sore from the last two days, and I don't have time between work and poker. (ahh the life.. :0) ). But tomorrow I'm going to try to get 3 miles in after work. It's supposed to warm up by Wednesday and let me tell you I'm ready! My dad told me last night that Atlanta had a record low day for April on Saturday - like the coldest April 7th in 100 years. I'm not surprised. It was horrible! I'm ready for summer!

Job Interview

At home weight: 216.4/Last WI 216.2

SATURDAY

Well, I missed a couple days of updating. Wednesday night was quiet. I didn't go work out like I should have, but I ate well, knowing WI was on Thursday.

Thursady at work was busy. I did my typcial WI day procedure - ate a big breakfast, wore my WI clothes, and didn't eat or drink after 1:00 until after WI. At WI, I lost only 0.8 lbs. I was hoping for more, but considering two days of binging on food and alcohol, I'm happy with the loss.

As usually, Thursday night I "celebrated" and let myself drink/eat what I wanted for one evening. I was fun. I really need my one day of release each week, to be able to make it through another one. We went to Y-knots and played poker and hung out with friends. They installed a pool table recently there which I LOVE. I used to play a lot of pool before I got into poker. I miss it and hate that I've let myself go so long and lost a lot of the skill I had. I actually used to be pretty good.

Anyway, on to the title of the entry. Currently I work as a felony prosecutor for a district attorney's office in Georgia (I'm called an ADA - assistant district attorney). I've been here a little over 2 years and really like my job. However, last week, another ADA told me that the Atlanta US attorney's office was hiring federal prosecutors. In my profession, a position at the US attorney's office is a highly prestigious, highly coveted position. If I got a job there, it would open a lot of doors later on down the road. My friend (the other ADA) decided he didn't want to apply but encouraged me to do so. I sent out my cover letter, resume, and writing sample last friday, fully not expecting anything b/c I'm still a pretty new attorney. I've only been practicing for just under 5 years, so I figured I'd have some very stiff competition.

Well, Thursday, I got a call saying the wanted me to come in for an interview Friday. So I did. Yesterday afternoon, I drove down to Atlanta, and met with 5 AUSA's (Assistant US Attorneys) that comprised the hiring committee for the Atlanta office. I think things went ok, but not great. It's tough being interviewed by 5 people. I was also a little nervous. Usually I do really well in interviews, and I don't really think I did bad, but I certainly didn't do my best I don't think.

Either way, as I said before, I think I'm on the low side of their minimum qualifications, so I really don't expect to get the job. I know they interviewed a number of other people that same day. I'm also completely ok with staying at my current job. I really do like it and would only leave for just this position. So - my thoughts are whatever is meant to be will be. I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to interview. I was a great learning experience, and an ego boost just to be considered. So, well just wait and see.

WW-wise, I'm going to do well this week. I'm sure of it. I've been doing great at journaling and am on day 16 of my 84 day challenge. Of course there have been a couple days where I was really bad, BUT it is in the book. I wrote it down, and it got me back on track.

Today Erik has his son, Daniel. Actually I'm watching him now, as Erik had a republican party meeting this morning. We're sitting watching Ben 10 - a weird little cartoon about a boy that can turn into 10+ different aliens. Daniel loves it though, so hey - who knows.

I'm going to go for a 5 mile walk/run today. I've already mapped it out in the neighborhood. If I walk some or even most of it, that's ok, I'm still going to get through it! It looks llike it's going to be a beautiful day. So when Erik gets back, it's out the door I go. Meanwhile - time for some quality time with the munchkin. Hopefully I can drag him away from the TV!