Why do we sabotoge?

217.6

MONDAY

So, after my AMAZING weigh in on Thursday, what did I do? Proceed to eat and drink merrily for 3 days. What the hell? I have a co-worker who sits next to me at the office who's also doing weight watchers. She came in this morning and we compared notes. We both agree that one of our biggest struggles is that we totally self-sabotage when we have a good week/day/scale showing. Her's this week was a morning scale-hop - she saw a good number and then justified copious amounts of ice cream. Mine was my fabulous weigh in on Thursday justifying a stupid alcohol binge on Friday night. The worst part about it was that Erik & I had plans to go to the movies on Friday which, at worst, would have resulted in a popcorn binge. Instead, at the last minute, we decided to go to Y-Knots and drink too much. Well I, at least, drank too much. Which lead to 11:00 pm ordering of "pub rolls" these fabulously cheesy, chicken roll thingies that are, of course, deep fried and very good. I wasn't even HUNGRY but the alcohol ALWAYS has me craving food. Bad girl.

Saturday and Sunday were better but not perfect. I had a wonderfully productive weekend house-wise and got lots of boxes unpacked. But Saturday we did go to that movie and I did have that popcorn binge. Sunday after church we went to Ted's Montana Grill for Bison burgers and Mexican for dinner (dinner was Erik's idea, but did I object? NO!).

Oh - and have I logged all this craziness into Sparkpeople? Of course not.

SO - today has been declared another 1200 calorie day. I can DO this. I WILL have a light lunch. I WILL run 3 miles as SOON as I get home, and I WILL eat VERY little for dinner. I WILL. All is not lost. The scale reading today is about what it was last Wednesday before my kick butt day/work out that dropped it to the 215's. I can still recover before Thursday. But oh - how low would I be if this weekend never happened?

Eh - woulda, coulda, shoulda, right? Moving on...

Barely Obese

215.4

THURSDAY

YEAH. I saw 215 this morning. Woo Hoo. I'm kicking BUTT this week. I go to my weigh in in about an hour and am expecting a good 3 lb loss since last time I went (3 weeks ago). I'm very pleased.

I updated my ticker, though, and am still technically "obese". I'm right at 30 BMI. If I remember correctly under 30 BMI is considered "overweight" but 30 or above is "obese". Boo. I definitely don't feel "obese". If you asked a random stranger if I looked "overweight" or "obese" I think 9 out of 10 would say "overweight". I'm definitely not skinny, but I hate that word - obese. Perhaps it's due to the level of obesity in America that my 40 lbs over weight doesn't "look" as bad. Who knows. I plan to be "overweight" by next week. :-)

On another happy note, I had a GREAT run last night. I ran 2.5 miles without walking, then walked .1 mile, then finished out another .5 miles running. For a total of 3 miles ran. I cooled down, of course, with a bit more walking, but that's definitely the best I've done in a long time. I told Erik earlier this week that I'd be running 3 miles straight by the end of the month. Looks like it might be sooner that I thought! I'm so pleased. It felt good too. It was tough near the end, of course, but it really felt good. (especially when I was done!) :-)

So tonight Holly & I scored tickets to a Sugarland concert here in Atlanta at the Fox - a very cool, very old style theatre. I'm excited. A co-worker couldn't go so we got them half price.

This weekend's plans are unpack, unpack and unpack. Oh and I might make Erik take me to see 21 this weekend. It's a movie based on the MIT blackjack team that worked Vegas for lots of money. We've both read the book the film is based on "Bringing Down the House" and I really want to see it. I'm a gambler at heart, what can I say.

Other than that, my life will consist of working on the house, running, and tracking my world in Sparkpeople. I love you sparkpeople! :-)

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?

Life, Stressful Life

220.8 (very good considering)

TUESDAY

Oh my how life has gotten crazy lately. I was out of town for 4 days last week - Thursday through Sunday - in sunny California. It was so wonderful. Erik won a trip at work for doing a good job last year, and they flew us both out there. So nice. We ate like pigs, but did manage to hit the gym twice together, so that's good.

We got back late Sunday and yesterday I tried to catch up on work and life. The scale was really scary yesterday morning - 224.6 - showing lots of bloating from the trip it seems. Today's number, therefore, was very nice to see even if it is a bit up from last week. I've got a couple more days till weigh in to get it down.

I've got major deadlines this month, and very few of them relate to work, which is stressful in itself as I need to get some hours in this month. On my plate this month:

1) Wedding invitations: they WILL be in the mail on Thursday. I've got 60 addressed, sealed and ready to go, about 60 left, but of course I'm waiting on several addresses from Erik. If I don't get them by Thursday they're just going to have to go out late.

2) Work project: I have a big brief due soon and promised a draft to the partners by Thursday. I think this is do-able, but need to get cracking. I promised it out on Thursday because I'm out Friday and Saturday for a work-related retreat.

3) House Buying: We are scheduled to close on our new house next Tuesday (March 18), and now of course, mortgage rates are climbing, even though they should be FALLING. Add to the stress

4) Packing: We have 10-12 friends scheduled to help us move next Saturday (22nd) so I have to have the entire house packed by then (did I mention I'm out of town this Friday & Saturday?) We've done nothing so far. :-(

5) Lasik: I'm scheduled to have Lasik on my eyes on March 28th and am supposed to be out of commission for at least 4 days after that - doesn't help the stress at work...

6) Dress Buying: I WILL buy a dress this month. Hopefully tomorrow. I tried one on today and LOVE it. Holly is scheduled to go to lunch with me tomorrow to give a second opinion "ok" and I think I'm going to order it. I have seriously put about 60 HOURS into this dress shopping thing. And of course the one I'm buying is obscenely expensive. But it WILL be done. tomorrow I hope.

7) Weight loss?!? Oh yeah - the whole point of this blog? Somehow I'm supposed to be being meticulous about my eating these days. So difficult. But it too must be done.

So I'm a bit stressed right now. Add to that I had a scary occurrence at work today. I've been on this big case since the day I started last year. It's supposed to go to trial this summer and there are like 4 partners and 6 associates on the case. I've been helping out diligently and probably spending 60-70% of my time on this one case billables-wise. Anyway, I printed something to a shared computer today and happened to see a co-worker's email that she printed about a meeting on the case next week. A meeting I was not invited to - but every other associate that's been working on the case has been. This is not the first meeting I've been left out on. So I got all paranoid and thought maybe I'm doing something wrong? Why don't they want me working on this anymore? What the hell?

So, very uncharacteristically, I decided to ask some questions and get to the bottom of it. I went into the office of the partner who does the most on the case and asked why I appear to have been taken off the case -- did I do something wrong? She promptly assured me that no, I hadn't done anything wrong, that she thought someone had told me, but that the client was complaining about my billable rate. Here's the thing. I've been practicing law for 6 years. But the firm brought me in as a "Fourth Year" for partnership purposes. This was totally fine with me because I need time to learn civil law, and make my place here. That said, I think they're still billing me out as a 6th year due to my experience. This is the second time I've been booted from a case because I'm too expensive. Which is ridiculous because THEY chose what to bill me at, and obviously want me to bill lots of hours, but somehow are putting me on cases where I can't do that. Frustrating. Anyway, on this case we have a VERY high maintenance client who is very cost conscious notwithstanding the huge nature of the case. She wants me off, supposedly not because of my work (I've only even met her briefly once), but because of my rate. The firm wants me on, and it's not resolved yet. Probably I'll get kicked off. If that happens, however, I NEED to find more work.

Here's my catch 22, however. I'm going to miss a number of days this month due to 1-7 above. So it's tough to go to another partner, looking for more work, and say I want some, but oh-by-the-way, I'm not going to be around much this month. Very frustrating.

At least she repeatedly assured me that it had nothing to do with my work product. That's good news at least, and she apologized that no one had talked to me sooner, but still. Totally stressed me out.

So that's my life right now. Busy busy busy. I'm super stressed and find myself "down" a lot, which is ridiculous because so much is going "RIGHT" in my life (getting married, buying a house, great job...) I just have to keep reminding myself this is good stress...

So much going on

Last WI: 221.8/WW WI 223.2/At Home WI: 222.2

WEDNESDAY

I've got 3 weights above because I'm not dually tracking my weekly WI's. My "last WI" is my at home Thursday morning WI that I'm using to track my ticker above and WW online. My "WW WI" is my actual live meeting WI that is always at noon on Thursday's at work, and I feel will be less "acurate" becaues of work clothes, timing, etc. My "ate home WI" is that morning's WI.

Oh numbers. I'm totally OCD about tracking stuff, so this makes me happy - how ridiculous.

So my life is CRAZY. Now I've always loved being busy and generaly am much more productive when I am, but damn I'm juggling a lot of balls right now.

1) House Hunting. We've been offering/countering/etc. on a georgous house for the last 2 weeks. We got a "final counter" from the seller on Monday that is still almost 10K higher than where we had planned to cap out, so we went to look at the hous again yesterday, and of course LOVED it. We've made one final "counter" even though they said they weren't going lower, but I'm afraid we might go with their last number if we have to. It's WAY more than I planned to spend, WAY more house than I need. But I love it. It has everything I want, and really is a place I could see myself in forever - raising my kids, etc. It's perfect. We'll see what happens.

2) Wedding Planning. Last weekend we went and visited a resort in north georgia that I fell in love with and booked straight out. I have them an obscene amount of money on deposit and basially signed my life away. We have a location and a date (August 31, 2008). Yesterday I went and looked at invitations, and fell in love with one that is, of course, ridiculously expensive. So we're going back on Saturday to talk to the "in house" people to see if they can do it cheaper. I am NOT spending $1K on invitations. That is obscene! Also, Sunday we're going back to the resort for their vendor "tasting". They'll have the food and all the local favorite vendors there. Should be fun, even if it's another 2 hour treck each weay.

3) LASIK. I've wanted LASIK for years. I've just not been able to justify the cost. I have worn contacts since high school, and have semi-bad allergies, so I have a hard time wearing them more than 12 hours a day. Also, Erik had Lasik almost 10 years ago and still has very good vision so I'm super jealous. My prescription isn't that bad - no coke bottle glasses or anything - but bad enough that I can't drive without glasses or contacts. Anyway, with this new job I got a flex-spending account which basically allows me to have my employer take out up to $3K pre-tax to pay for something like this. So I set that up starting in January. They take out $125 out of each paycheck pre-tax and put it into my "account". The good news is I don't have to wait until the end of the year to spend all $3K. I can get it now, and just pay it back over the year. So I decided I wanted to get the surgery done before the wedding and honey moon and before wedding planning got all crazy. So last month I booked my consultation that was yesterday. Things went well, and I'm a good candidate. Due to "thin" corneas, I'm going to do a less common procedure of "epi-lasik" instead of traditional lasik. Same result and cost, just a little longer recover time (like a week instead of a day). But it's safer considering my thin corneas. (Weird, nothing ELSE on my body is "thin", why do my cornea's have to be?!?). I've set my surgery appointment for March 28 (between closing, travel, etc). Hopefully it'll go smoothly.

4) WW. Of course through all this I'm trying to stay on track to lose between 1.5-2 lbs a week. I have NOT started exercising and I have not excuse except being busy and too lazy to do it at 10:00 pm at night. I totally could put in 30 minutes though and NEED to start. The weight will NOT come off with WW alone. I'm not dedicated enough. I HAVE to put in the time working out. I'll start tonight.

5) Work - oh yeah, that thing that PAYS for everything listed above. I'm "trying" to put in 45-50 hours a week. It has been difficult with wedding and lasik apointments this week, but I have GOT to make this a priority. Without this job, I cannot afford any of the above and I need to do a good job here.

6) Travel - We have so many weekend trips planned in the next few months. Erik won a trip at work for being such a good employee and the second weekend of March we're taking 4 days to go to California on his company's tab. We fly out Thursday and come back Sunday. So nice and should be totally comped, but wow I don't feel like I have time to travel right now. Also, my work has 2 retreats planned in the next 2 months. One for "mid-associates" (i.e. 4th & 5th years) in March about 2 hours from Atlanta, and one for all associates in April in Miami. Again all of these are paid for, but they pull me away from 1-5 above. Crazy.

I think that's about it. It's surely enough. Needless to say I'm going to TRY to continue to blog every other day or so, but if I disappear for a week, you'll know why.

6 days OP!

Last WI: 221.8/At Home WI: 221.8 (fine)

THURSDAY

Well, I had a good week. 6 straight days OP. And I still have 19 flex points for the week! Unheard of! So, I'm going to splurge a little tonight. Only 19 max points worth, though. It's the first time going into my typical WI night splurge that I have legitimate points to use to do it. Not bad.

So I'm going back to meetings today, but have decided to use my morning nekkid weight as my progress on here. I hate stressing about the clothes to wear, and stripping down to nothing, just so I can see the lowest possible number. Now that I'm going to meetings at work, I need to be able to just go, and not stress. So - to alleviate that, I'm recording here, and on the WW site, my morning WI. So, that just means I'll have two tracking systems going simultaneously. Not a problem. I'll still lose the same in the long run but without the stress.

So today I saw 221.8. Not bad. Up about 1.4 from the lowest I saw this week, but I'm ok with that. Still significantly lower than last week. And I can say I had a fully OP week. Now, next week I'm going to add in exercise. Goal of 3 days, minimum of 2 (to start with). I should start tonight. Today's kind of a wierd schedule. I should be billing a full 10 hours today since it's the last day of the month, but I made a commitment to pick up some political signs for a group I volunteer with this afternoon, and they sign company is near where I currently live (30 miles from work) and only open till 5:00. So I'm leaving at 3:30 to make sure I make it in time. I had planned to go home and work some more, but now I'm thinking 30 minutes on the treadmill couldn't hurt. I can still get a few more billables in before Erik gets home and we go out. I have decided I'm going out tonight, despite the fact that LOST premiers and I'm SUPER excited about that. I hate commercials, so I'll record it and watch it when we get home.

Other than that, all is well. We made an offer on the "big" house we've been looking at yesterday with the new agent. We totally lowballed it. I mean like 50K under asking so I know we won't get a flat yes. I'm just curious what they counter with.

Ok, nothing too exciting. Loving being engaged, loving my man. And loving being OP!

Still Pluggin Along

Last WI: 224.8/At home WI: 221.6

WEDNESDAY

So, I'm up a bit on the scale today, but I'm not at all surprised. I had been dropping very rapidly and went from 222.4 on Monday to 220.4 on Tuesday. So 221.6 isn't so bad. Tomorrow is official WI, and I'm actually going to a meeting. I can't decide what to do as my "official" WI, my morning hop, or the meeting WI. Normally I would automatically use the meeting WI, but that was what I did back when I didn't do WW at work, and could wear the same, relatively skimpy, outfit to WI every week. Now, having to wear work clothes (particularly in the winter), I'm not sure it's a fair representation. Now I know, over the long run it'll all even out if I'm losing. But I like to see a fair number every time. So, I'm thinking I'll weigh in the morning, nekkid as usual, and count that online, and in my personal tracker, then I'll wear a relatively light outfit to work, and WI there and go to the meeting with my friend. I plan to lose a good bit (I always PLAN to) so I want to be at meetings and get awards, etc., but for now, I'm going to stick with my "home" weight as official WI online, and just know that my meeting WI will always be at least a couple pounds higher.

I still haven't gotten myself to work out this week. I'm not sure why. No good excuse. I think I forgive myself because I've been so good about tracking and staying in my points. I guess, since tomorrow is my reset day, I'll just let this first week go as a "back on track food-wise" week, and commit to at least 3 days of cardio for my next week. I think that's fair. No excuse this weekend why I can't get in at least one, likely two, good workouts on the treadmill. I can DO it!

Other than that, life is just plain busy. With wedding planning, lots of work, and house hunting, my head is spinning. Yesterday was crazy - I fired my real estate agent I'd been working with for 2 months. It was a long time coming, but she was a friend so I put it off. When she couldn't figure out why the contract the other agent sent her wouldn't print right and put off our offer for a day to work on it, (it was on "legal" paper, and specifically said so in the email) I decided enough was enough. She's a great bartender (how we met her before she went to real estate school), not so much a realtor.

So, I have a new realtor that is supposed to be faxing an offer today on a house we found this weekend and absolutely loved. I know we won't get it at the offer we're making (VERY low) but hopefully they'll counter and we'll get an idea if we're even close. I love this house - it's way more than we need, but it's gorgeous.

Let's see, still plan to see the proposed wedding site this weekend. Other than that, things are moving along. I mapped out my weight loss goals between now and the wedding. I have to average 3 1/2 lbs every 2 weeks to be where I want to be. I know I can do it. That's about 7 lbs a month. With total commitment, that's completely do able. I'm committed! Just have to start that exercising!

Off and working!

ENGAGED!

Last WI: 224.8/At Home: 223.8

SATURDAY

Well it's been a crazy couple weeks! Last weekend Erik & I, along with 6 other friends went to Tunica, MS for a casino/poker weekend. I had a lot of fun and did really well, though didn't make the big money. I played in a $550 tournament on Friday night that won me a $7500 seat in the "big" tournament on Sunday. In that tournament I got 38th out of 180. Unfortunately, they only paid out to 18th place. But, considering I was playing with mostly pros, I did very well and was very pleased with myself. That said, it would have been nice to cash as 18th paid $12K and 1st paid $450K. Oh well, there's always next year.

We got home on Monday, and then on Wednesday night Erik proposed!!! It was so funny. Turns out he picked up the ring the thursday before on the way to Tunica and had planned to do it in Tunica. He even scheduled a fancy dinner for us, that we ended up missing since we misunderstood the closing time of the restaurant. So, since he couldn't do it last weekend, he decided to do it at the location of our first date - Chaps. He totally surprised me, which is something I didn't think he could do knowing that it was coming sometime in the next few months. Anyway, I came by after work, we played poker with all our friends, and turns out I did really well that night. He had planned on doing it when I went out of the poker tournament, but I ended up getting 3rd. So he did it as we were paying our tab. Course by this time, the place was pretty empty, but that's ok, it was very sweet. He totally shocked me. Dana, his closest friend, was there running the poker show and knew it was coming, but other than that he kept it a total secret. So funny and sweet. I'm so happy.

So above is a very blurry picture of the ring taken from my camera phone. I still need to sit down and upload a nice one with my digital camera.

So Thursday I did very little at work, even though I am SWAMPED. I billed two hours, then Holly came up and we had lunch and looked at bride magazines and talked about locations the rest of the day. I think she's more excited than me! Course she just finished her wedding, so she's probably in withdrawal. Of course Thursday night I got an email on my blackberry saying EMERGENCY EMERGENCY the next 8 days will be hell and we need everyone to work major hours to get a project done by 2/1. So, after 24 hours of wedding talk and excitement, I've had to put it aside and work my butt off. I billed 14 hours yesterday and am sitting at work now (taking a much needed brain break). I expect to bill at least 10, hopefully 12 or 13 hours today. Tomorrow I'm taking a short break to go to church and look at a few houses that we'd scheduled with the realtor, then going to try to bill at least 6 hours. Monday - Friday look like 12-14 hours days. Then hopefully next weekend I can veg, and enjoy being a bride!

As for the wedding, there still lots to think about as far as a date, but we're talking about August/September, possibly labor day weekend if we can find a location we like that isn't booked. Who knows - can't think about it for 6 more days.

So that's me excitement! WOO HOO. Finally I'm a bride. At least for 7 or so months! :-)

Oh - and now I think I FINALLY got the motivation to do what I need to WW-wise. Since Erik proposed, I've been diligently tracking my points and making good choices. No exercise, as work has limited that, but after this emergency passes, I expect to get back to that too. I'm giving myself 2 months to lose as much as I can before I start looking at wedding dresses. I'm EXCITED!

Mantras - Can they work?

Last WI: 221.6/Morning WI: 222.8

MONDAY

Well it's a new week and I haven't done much on the "new years resolution front". It's January 7 and I've really not accomplished much yet. This is supposed to be when people are most motivated, right? Well last night, on my way home from a friend's house, I created a new "mantra" for myself. Well, it's not new, but new to me. The theory is, before I make any health/weight/food related decision I ask the question: What's more important. I.e. What's more important, this meal or being thin? What's more important, watching this TV program or being thin (and working out). Last night it worked. I got home at about 8:30 and hit the treadmill for 30 minutes. Ran a total of 2 miles, walked .5 and burned 425 calories. Not bad. Then I drank lots of water before going to sleep about midnight. So today, for breakfast - I asked the question, and then settled on a 4 point breakfast bar, rather than chick-fil-a on the way in. So far so good. 12 hours in and it's working. Now, will it last? Who knows.

I've come to realize that all losing weight is, is finding the 'tricks' that work. We all have different ones. What motivates one person doesn't another. For me, I just have to find those that work. The first time I did WW it was the newness of it, the calculating (I'm OCD) and the game. Now I've come to the point where I'm too good at cheating. I WI in the morning, see a lower number than I deserve and feel it gives me the justification to eat too much that day. I know I can earn APs at home, so I over-eat during the day "planning" on hitting the treadmill, then I don't. Things like that. No more can I rely on the 'game' because I've instituted cheating into it. (kinda like baseball these days, eh?)

So, now I'm going to try the mantra. I'm still going to do WW because it's a good check for making sure I'm eating enough (surprisingly when I'm "ON" that's an issue) and that I'm not over-estimating things. I just have to make a million little decisions that ultimately boil down to one big one - I'm doing something about this!

On other issues, we went house hunting this weekend and I fell in love with a house on Saturday that I found out on Sunday was under contract. Of course. It's definitely not a bad thing, though because technically I was a bit more than I wanted to spend. So maybe I can be happy with something else. I had a "second favorite" that both Erik and I liked that's still on the table. We're set to look at a bunch more this weekend, so here's hoping.

Other than that, today is a busy day at work. 3 meetings and lots to do.

Hoping for a good day!

House hunting

Last WI: 221.6/At Home WI: 224.0 (beer is evil)

FRIDAY

Well, I finally have work to do. YEAH! Funny how I'm wanting work, being that I'm such a lazy bum. But when my job is on the line (billing is how we're evaluated in part) then I care.

So last night, Erik and I talked about the house shopping issue. I'm really torn about what to do here. As I think I've mentioned, we will be kicked out of our house early this year. Now it's looking like first of April is the likely deadline. That gives me January and February to find a house (considering a 30 day closing). So I'm looking. And I'm frustrated. We found, what we thought, were some great houses back before the holidays. Turns out, it's a gang ridden area. Who knew? So, obviously that's out. Now we're debating between buying intown or OTP (outside the perimeter, as they say locally). There's pluses and minuses to both. Intown is closer to my work, so minimizes my commute. Typically, I work more hours, so this balances things out as he will still likely get home around the same time even with his 45 minute commute. But, his son's mother lives outside the perimeter, sort of near Erik's work, and obviously they split custody a lot. So that's a pain. Also, all my friends are down south of ATL. Granted, I can make new friends, and make an effort to see the old ones, but it's a factor. Of course in-town you get much less house for your money too.

Oddly, Erik is pushing in-town. Which is really weird because he hates traffic, and hates big cities. I keep saying I'm willing to commute if he wants to live suburbs, but he keeps saying no - it'll be easier for you if we live in-town. Odd. I figured I'd be begging for in-town, he'd be pushing suburbs. Instead it's the opposite.

Also, now that we're on a semi-short time frame, and we can really only look on the weekends, I'm ready to start looking. NOW. As in this weekend. But my realtor, whom I made an appointment with before the holidays to look at houses tomorrow, is not responding to my emails. Doesn't she realize in this market, she should be falling all over me? I mean really, how many eager buyers are out there? And I'm a sure thing. I WILL be buying something in the next 3 months. She's got till the end of today then I'm looking for someone else. I know several people who would love my business. It's just odd because this isn't like her. She was very helpful and eager before the holidays. We'll see I guess.

Other than that, all is well. I need to get cracking on the nice little work-out plan I mapped out yesterday...

New Year, Same old Goals...

Last WI: 220.6/At Home WI: 224.0 (ick!)

Wednesday

Ok - so I saw 221.8 yesterday and 224 today. Weird. But I was definitely dehydrated yesterday so that probably has something to do with it.

So the holidays were nice. I had my best friend from college - Gloria - in town. She and I are simply put - soul mates. Not in the romantic sense, obviously, but we are just so similar we will be best friends for ever. I met her the first night I moved into my dorm freshman year and we've been instant best friends since. She currently lives in Hawaii and is finishing up her PhD in clinical psychology, but is hoping to move back soon, possibly to Georgia. I'm lucky that I live very close to where most of her family is from, so there's a good chance she'll move here once she starts working. We had a great visit and Erik dropped her off at her grandparents this morning where she'll be spending a few days before flying back to Hawaii.

New years, we went to Holly's for our big party. It was a lot of fun, but I got way too drunk and sometime after midnight got into a cry-fest fight with Erik about why he hasn't proposed yet. So not good. He was wonderful and said all the right things but I hate that I made such a scene. I was pretty gone so I don't remember exactly how many people were still at the party - I'm hoping not too many, it was definitely a good bit after midnight. Oh well - drunken stupidity is a must on occasion it seems...

So, now it's a new year but the same old goals. Lose weight, eat right, exercise...etc.etc. Same as everyone, but I need it more than most since I've let things slip lately.

Back at work today with still nothing to do. I emailed my practice group leader and he said he'd "work on it" and the he's not back till Monday. Great...looks like another slow week... So not good for the bonus I had hoped to get next Christmas.

This weekend Erik and I will be looking at houses again. I'm so depressed about this. I thought it'd be so fun since we have plenty of time and it's such a "buyers market". Well, that's great and all, but I'm still cheap. I don't want to pay 300K + just to live in the city. I want a nice clean 3 - 4 bedroom house for under 200K. With a garage. So much to ask? In this area, apparently so. So who knows. We're supposed to look at some intown houses this weekend, but I know I'm going to be disappointed either in the neighborhood or the house. Here's hoping though...

Other than that, nothing too crazy going on. Still hoping for that call/email saying we've got some work for you... MUST BILL HOURS. lol.

Ok - now is the time to do it!

Last WI: 215.4/At Home WI: 218.4 (ICK!)

SATURDAY

Ok, so I didn't make it to the gym yesterday. I was at work until 6:30 getting ready for trials on Monday. Today I have plans to meet up with Erik and his son at 12:30 for a T-ball game for Daniel. Then we have a bridal couple's shower this evening. It should be fun. I'm going to pack my gym bag and try to head to the gym after the T-ball game, before the shower. I need to do this. I've tracked my points so far today - breakfast (wow, huh?). I had poached eggs on toast with some nuts and cheese - 8 pts. I've got to get a hold on this. The scale this morning scared the crap out of me.

Well, Erik and I drafted our lease purchase documents last night. He's going to try to get the buyer/lessor to sign on Monday. Then it's time to pack - yipee... Oh well, I am excited about the new house. It's in a really cool location and is a very nice house. We can't afford to stay there long term, but in reality it'll be very cool to live there for a while.

Ok so plan today - TRACK and EXCERSISE! Ready set GO!