Unknown...going to official WI tonight or tomorrow.
My life has been CRAZY this last month or two. So busy. So tiring. So much.
Our party was great. We had lots of people over and lots of fun. After that, though, my life switched to high gear. Every major election cycle, I volunteer for this organization that recruits and dispatches hundreds of volunteers in Georgia. This year was our biggest yet with over 600 volunteers on the ground. So I've been crazy busy this last week. I didn't sleep much at all until Tuesday night, when I slept for 16 hours. Yes 16 hours. I went to bed at midnight on Tuesday (already having taken Wednesday off) and didn't get out of bed until 4:00 pm on Wednesday. And I still slept a full 8 hours last night as well. I haven't slept that much ever, not being sick. Just shows how exhausted I was from the week before. I literally worked 80 hours in 6 days. Exhausting.
So now I'm back to normal life and back to the effort of weight loss. After much personal debate, I've decided to go back to Weight Watchers. It's the only thing that's ever worked for me, so I'm going to try again. I haven't decided which meeting I'm going to go to, but I have decided not to go to the one at my work. As convenient as it is, I'm not a huge fan of the leader, and for me, the weight watchers journey has always been a relatively private thing. I don't feel as comfortable going to a big meeting at my office, however convenient it is. Odd, yes. But we have to do what works, right?
So there's a meeting near my house on Thursday nights at 6:30. The trouble is getting there by 6:30 will not always be easy. I'm going to try to go today and check it out. I don't know how I'll feel about it, but it's worth a try. There's lots of other choices, however, if that one doesn't work out.
So don't be surprised to see a crazy high number tomorrow. I've hit 240, which is sick, but that's why I'm doing this. I didn't get on the scale this morning, frankly because I forgot, but I'm sure it's somewhere near 240. Which means tonight at an official weigh in with clothes after eating during the day, I'll probably see 245 or so. The numbers are so high now they're almost meaningless. Which is even more scary.
I've got to do something about this now, or it will only get worse.
Another thing may be a factor in my weight loss attempt this time, but I don't know in what way. I just started back on the birth control pill. For most of my adult life I've been on Depo Provera - the shot - that has been shown to cause weight gain. I've always felt like I couldn't blame my weight gain on that, though because when I really tried, and did the right things, I could still lose weight. That said, however, I'm hoping that the transition to traditional pill birth control might make things easier. I'm not holding my breath, though - I don't know that it will make a measurable difference. But it is one thing to think about as I just started the pill on Sunday. We'll see what happens.
But - I'm going to try to keep blogging as I do this. Holiday seasons are the toughest, so I know I need to start now rather than wait until January when I'm at 260 or worse.
Off to a new start!
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Passive Agressive Much?
234.0 (oops.)
So, this morning a funny thing happened when I got to work. I had been working on a pleading that needed to be filed today, and on my desk my federal rules book was open in the center of my desk. When I got in on top of the open rule book was a mailing from Lane Bryant that had a coupon in it. It's one of these folded coupon fliers you get in the mail if you're on their mailing list. I thought it odd that it just arrived on my desk, they don't have my home address, certainly not my work address, so it couldn't have come to me. I flipped it over, and the name and address had been blacked out with sharpie then whited out over that. Odd.
So, somebody decided I likely shopped at lane bryant, which isn't a bad assumption, I'm actually a size 16, which is right on the border, so generally I don't, but it's not inconceivable. But the really odd thing is that this someone was embarrassed enough that the flier was sent to them to black out their name AND not put a note on it saying who it was from.
Now, with any other coupon, gift card, etc., if you're going to give it to someone who you think might use it, you'd typically want to get credit for your nice gesture. Say I don't shop at IKEA but I know my colleague does, and I get a coupon, I would give it to them overtly.
But because it's Lane Bryant - a "big" girl store, suddenly you don't want me to know? I'm more offended about that than the fact that this somebody though I was big enough to shop there - as I said, I'm close. Very passive aggressive if you ask me. Then I get to thinking, maybe it's not a generous thing where the giver is just embarrassed. Maybe it's a veiled insult. Maybe this somebody is saying "hey we know your fat, and by the way you need better clothes". Maybe? Seeing how they don't want to reveal their name.
So curiosity got the best of me. I scrapped off the white out with my fingernail and then wet the paper a bit to smudge the sharpie black out to reveal the name....
My secretary.
Odd. I don't know how to take this. I don't have the best relationship with my secretary. We don't argue but I think she's not so good at her job and have actually considered asking to be reassigned. I've never directly called her out, but my frustration is clear when she messes something up. So this could go either way. Either she got it, and was trying to be nice but was embarrassed that she got it, or she's being VERY passive aggressively insulting.
My friend who is also a secretary here says I should email her a note that just says "Hey - thanks for the coupon, but I don't shop there. Let me know if there's someone else you know that might be able to use it." Sort of passive aggressive back. My thought is to just let it go.
Could use some input on this one. I actually think it's pretty hilarious, myself.
So, this morning a funny thing happened when I got to work. I had been working on a pleading that needed to be filed today, and on my desk my federal rules book was open in the center of my desk. When I got in on top of the open rule book was a mailing from Lane Bryant that had a coupon in it. It's one of these folded coupon fliers you get in the mail if you're on their mailing list. I thought it odd that it just arrived on my desk, they don't have my home address, certainly not my work address, so it couldn't have come to me. I flipped it over, and the name and address had been blacked out with sharpie then whited out over that. Odd.
So, somebody decided I likely shopped at lane bryant, which isn't a bad assumption, I'm actually a size 16, which is right on the border, so generally I don't, but it's not inconceivable. But the really odd thing is that this someone was embarrassed enough that the flier was sent to them to black out their name AND not put a note on it saying who it was from.
Now, with any other coupon, gift card, etc., if you're going to give it to someone who you think might use it, you'd typically want to get credit for your nice gesture. Say I don't shop at IKEA but I know my colleague does, and I get a coupon, I would give it to them overtly.
But because it's Lane Bryant - a "big" girl store, suddenly you don't want me to know? I'm more offended about that than the fact that this somebody though I was big enough to shop there - as I said, I'm close. Very passive aggressive if you ask me. Then I get to thinking, maybe it's not a generous thing where the giver is just embarrassed. Maybe it's a veiled insult. Maybe this somebody is saying "hey we know your fat, and by the way you need better clothes". Maybe? Seeing how they don't want to reveal their name.
So curiosity got the best of me. I scrapped off the white out with my fingernail and then wet the paper a bit to smudge the sharpie black out to reveal the name....
My secretary.
Odd. I don't know how to take this. I don't have the best relationship with my secretary. We don't argue but I think she's not so good at her job and have actually considered asking to be reassigned. I've never directly called her out, but my frustration is clear when she messes something up. So this could go either way. Either she got it, and was trying to be nice but was embarrassed that she got it, or she's being VERY passive aggressively insulting.
My friend who is also a secretary here says I should email her a note that just says "Hey - thanks for the coupon, but I don't shop there. Let me know if there's someone else you know that might be able to use it." Sort of passive aggressive back. My thought is to just let it go.
Could use some input on this one. I actually think it's pretty hilarious, myself.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wow time FLIES
THURSDAY
Oh my gosh time flies. I'm so crazy scared of this wedding! It's now 44 days away. Yes, little 44 days. Under 50 but still more than a month, thank god! It's so sneaking up on me!
Well, life's been busy as you can imagine. I've got lots of wedding stuff on the calendar. I'm meeting with the resort this weekend to finalize the menu details, cake stuff, timeing, etc. Yesterday I went and looked at "chair covers" and linens. Do not ASK me what I'm paying for chair covers and linens. OMG. Ridiculous. And trust me - I got the "basic" ones! It's just when you have a semi-large wedding (~145) and have to cover chairs for both the ceremony AND the reception, it gets expensive. Oh - and of course my site does not have ivory linens, so I'm stuck renting those too - or having them in white and clash with my dress and everything else. booo.
Oh well, things are getting done, albeit slowly. I'm excited and my weekends are filling up with to do's but boy it's getting close.
As for weight loss/work out, I'm a bit frustrated. I jumped back into Boot Camp full force. I've been every day. This is the end of week 2. I saw a good 4 lb loss the first week, but have really stagnated this week. Now I know there are several factors that could be in play here. I've been VERY sore this week so it could be water retention. I've been good but not "great" with food. But sheesh! I'm burning 600+ calories every morning! You'd think that'd add up to something.
Oh well - still pluggin along. I know the results will come. I won't be a "skinny minny" for my wedding, but as I've said before, if I lose some weight and feel fit, that's what matters. I just want to feel "good" about myself, even if I don't feel "perfect".
And work has gotten good too. I'm on two primary cases, with a few others sort of dormant. These two are keeping me busy though. I'm pretty much the primary associate on both, so I have a lot of responsibility and client contact which is exactly what I need to feel motivated and appreicated. If only I could get my butt into work earlier. With the boot camp I've been bad about getting to bed ontime so I've been "napping" when I get home at 6:30 for a bit which gets me into work late (obviously). I am staying later to make up for it, but if I could just rearrange the scheduling and be asleep by 10:00 it would all work easier. I'm just such a night owl and even with good intentions every night, I can't seem to fall asleep until around midnight. Frustrating.
Oh well - boot camp too will be over in 44 days. Hopefully then (after the honeymoon at least) I can get back to normal work life. Hopefully no one really is bothered by it in the meantime!
That's about it. Sorry for the lack of posting. I'd like to keep a good journal of this exciting time, but it's hard. I'm going to try harder to get on more often!
Oh my gosh time flies. I'm so crazy scared of this wedding! It's now 44 days away. Yes, little 44 days. Under 50 but still more than a month, thank god! It's so sneaking up on me!
Well, life's been busy as you can imagine. I've got lots of wedding stuff on the calendar. I'm meeting with the resort this weekend to finalize the menu details, cake stuff, timeing, etc. Yesterday I went and looked at "chair covers" and linens. Do not ASK me what I'm paying for chair covers and linens. OMG. Ridiculous. And trust me - I got the "basic" ones! It's just when you have a semi-large wedding (~145) and have to cover chairs for both the ceremony AND the reception, it gets expensive. Oh - and of course my site does not have ivory linens, so I'm stuck renting those too - or having them in white and clash with my dress and everything else. booo.
Oh well, things are getting done, albeit slowly. I'm excited and my weekends are filling up with to do's but boy it's getting close.
As for weight loss/work out, I'm a bit frustrated. I jumped back into Boot Camp full force. I've been every day. This is the end of week 2. I saw a good 4 lb loss the first week, but have really stagnated this week. Now I know there are several factors that could be in play here. I've been VERY sore this week so it could be water retention. I've been good but not "great" with food. But sheesh! I'm burning 600+ calories every morning! You'd think that'd add up to something.
Oh well - still pluggin along. I know the results will come. I won't be a "skinny minny" for my wedding, but as I've said before, if I lose some weight and feel fit, that's what matters. I just want to feel "good" about myself, even if I don't feel "perfect".
And work has gotten good too. I'm on two primary cases, with a few others sort of dormant. These two are keeping me busy though. I'm pretty much the primary associate on both, so I have a lot of responsibility and client contact which is exactly what I need to feel motivated and appreicated. If only I could get my butt into work earlier. With the boot camp I've been bad about getting to bed ontime so I've been "napping" when I get home at 6:30 for a bit which gets me into work late (obviously). I am staying later to make up for it, but if I could just rearrange the scheduling and be asleep by 10:00 it would all work easier. I'm just such a night owl and even with good intentions every night, I can't seem to fall asleep until around midnight. Frustrating.
Oh well - boot camp too will be over in 44 days. Hopefully then (after the honeymoon at least) I can get back to normal work life. Hopefully no one really is bothered by it in the meantime!
That's about it. Sorry for the lack of posting. I'd like to keep a good journal of this exciting time, but it's hard. I'm going to try harder to get on more often!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
First Test
Wednesday
Well, today is my first test of my new commitment. We didn't have a boot camp work out today (we get the first and third Wednesday off). So I have to do my own work out tonight. I'm ready. I have no plans to go out anywhere. I'm going to hit the treadmill and possibly add some jump roping in with my cool calorie counting jump rope. Then I need to do some strength work which I might do on the Wii Fit since I haven't been on there in a while. I'm ready.
I do need to do some grocery shopping, as I'm down to very few easy "mini meals" like we're supposed to do on this program. I usually take some fruit, yogurt, nuts, hard boiled egg, etc. to work for my mid day snacks but I'm out! I'll try to go tonight. If I don't make it, it'll be this weekend before I can go. We'll see how that goes.
Other than that, things are going well. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I've got some plans with friends that should be a lot of fun. I've got a LOT of work to do before then though - so on that note - back to work!
Well, today is my first test of my new commitment. We didn't have a boot camp work out today (we get the first and third Wednesday off). So I have to do my own work out tonight. I'm ready. I have no plans to go out anywhere. I'm going to hit the treadmill and possibly add some jump roping in with my cool calorie counting jump rope. Then I need to do some strength work which I might do on the Wii Fit since I haven't been on there in a while. I'm ready.
I do need to do some grocery shopping, as I'm down to very few easy "mini meals" like we're supposed to do on this program. I usually take some fruit, yogurt, nuts, hard boiled egg, etc. to work for my mid day snacks but I'm out! I'll try to go tonight. If I don't make it, it'll be this weekend before I can go. We'll see how that goes.
Other than that, things are going well. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I've got some plans with friends that should be a lot of fun. I've got a LOT of work to do before then though - so on that note - back to work!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
66 days
THURSDAY
So my titles might be a little boring for the next few months. They will be designed to keep me focused on the end goals - eye on the prize as they say. So today we are 66 days out.
How did I do yesterday? Well, not bad. Not phenomenal, but not bad. I did log all my food into Sparkpeople for the first time in months. My total for the day awas 1700 calories. A bit higher than I wanted to be, but I'll accept it as it was filled with mostly nutritious foods - grilled chicken Caesar salad for lunch (with dressing on the side, thank you) and chicken salad sandwich for dinner with lots of lettuce & tomato and a small handful of cashews and 2 slices of cheese. Along with popcorn for a snack. Not bad at all.
Bad news? No exercise. I didn't feel like it (when do I ever feel like it?) after I got home. I did NOT go out for drinks though, like I have for about 2 weeks straight. (small victories). The exercise thing is going to be tough for the next week and a half. I get back to boot camp in July 7th. Until then I'm on my own, and I suck on my own. I actually "thought" about getting up early this morning to run before work, but of course I didn't do it.
The frustrating thing right now is that I'm have a really crappy work situation. I'm working on a case where we we represent a humane society that had contracted with the county to run animal control. According to the contract, the county has the right to review our documents within 3 years of the end of the contract. We terminated our contract earlier this year, and for purely political reasons, the county now wants to audit our documents. So I've been sitting in a conference room all week with three county auditors as they go over our documents and flag the ones they want copied. It's so much bullshit, and I hate not being in my office, but we don't trust them with our documents, so I'm essentially on babysitting duties. Luckily my "charge" is not a real baby and doesn't cry, but it's still very needy! Lol.
Anyway, I am getting some work done down here, and can bill my time to someone regardless, but sheesh it's frustrating. I've had to get in before 9:00 each day - something I don't normally do because of my commute and traffic issues. So, yeah. Getting up to work out before work just isn't happening. Hell - at least I'm working, right?
Another thing this stupid babysitting job is doing, is keeping me from picking up my wedding dress. I really need a 2 hour lunch to get over there to try it on and make sure everything looks right before I leave with it. So far, no good. Maybe this evening if I can kick them out early enough before the store closes.
So - back to goals - I'm having another salad for lunch. Planning to make good choices at dinner, and probably will end up "thinking" about exercising. ;-)
Oh - and no weight post for a week or so as I'm too scared. I need to focus for a bit then see the damage.
So my titles might be a little boring for the next few months. They will be designed to keep me focused on the end goals - eye on the prize as they say. So today we are 66 days out.
How did I do yesterday? Well, not bad. Not phenomenal, but not bad. I did log all my food into Sparkpeople for the first time in months. My total for the day awas 1700 calories. A bit higher than I wanted to be, but I'll accept it as it was filled with mostly nutritious foods - grilled chicken Caesar salad for lunch (with dressing on the side, thank you) and chicken salad sandwich for dinner with lots of lettuce & tomato and a small handful of cashews and 2 slices of cheese. Along with popcorn for a snack. Not bad at all.
Bad news? No exercise. I didn't feel like it (when do I ever feel like it?) after I got home. I did NOT go out for drinks though, like I have for about 2 weeks straight. (small victories). The exercise thing is going to be tough for the next week and a half. I get back to boot camp in July 7th. Until then I'm on my own, and I suck on my own. I actually "thought" about getting up early this morning to run before work, but of course I didn't do it.
The frustrating thing right now is that I'm have a really crappy work situation. I'm working on a case where we we represent a humane society that had contracted with the county to run animal control. According to the contract, the county has the right to review our documents within 3 years of the end of the contract. We terminated our contract earlier this year, and for purely political reasons, the county now wants to audit our documents. So I've been sitting in a conference room all week with three county auditors as they go over our documents and flag the ones they want copied. It's so much bullshit, and I hate not being in my office, but we don't trust them with our documents, so I'm essentially on babysitting duties. Luckily my "charge" is not a real baby and doesn't cry, but it's still very needy! Lol.
Anyway, I am getting some work done down here, and can bill my time to someone regardless, but sheesh it's frustrating. I've had to get in before 9:00 each day - something I don't normally do because of my commute and traffic issues. So, yeah. Getting up to work out before work just isn't happening. Hell - at least I'm working, right?
Another thing this stupid babysitting job is doing, is keeping me from picking up my wedding dress. I really need a 2 hour lunch to get over there to try it on and make sure everything looks right before I leave with it. So far, no good. Maybe this evening if I can kick them out early enough before the store closes.
So - back to goals - I'm having another salad for lunch. Planning to make good choices at dinner, and probably will end up "thinking" about exercising. ;-)
Oh - and no weight post for a week or so as I'm too scared. I need to focus for a bit then see the damage.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Back to Blogging?
Not Sure on WI...
WEDNESDAY
So I'm not sure why I had such a funk with blogging. I tried to analyze why I didn't want to blog, and I think it was at least partly due to the fact that I've not been good with the bootcamp/eating/dieting thing and I feel like that girl that's always "gonna" lose weight but never does. This blog is supposed to help inspire me, keep me on track, and ultimately help me lose weight. When I've been bad, though I don't want to come on and say my weight, or say how bad I've been. So I say - ah - tomorrow I'll blog after I'm good today. But that just doesn't work sometimes.
So here's declaring. THIS BLOG IS FOR ME. Well duh, you say, who else would it be for? Well, no one in particular, but when you know someone's reading (even if it's only like 3 someones) you feel an obligation to do good. Well, I don't always do good. It's hard to lose weight. And you know what? I can still be a good person even if I don't.
So I'm back, I hope with the same goals, but hopefully not the same fears. Ironically I forgot to weigh myself this morning. Not at all in anticipation of this post. Yesterday morning i was at 217.4, so I'm sure I'm somewhere around there.
So - life is good otherwise. I've finally got some work to do, which translates to TONS of work to do. That's pretty much how it goes, though. Feast or famine. But it's better. I billed less than 100 hours last month (I should average b/w 160-180 each month). And this month until this week I hadn't billed even 40. So this is good. I'm not at a place where I worry about my job in the short run, but if that pace kept up, there'd definitely be trouble.
In other news, I've re-found my obsession with poker. I never really quit playing, and Erik and I have always gone out 1-2 nights a week to play with friends, but recently bought a book by a player I respect greatly, Gus Hansen, called Every Hand Revealed. It's basically the story of how he won the Aussie Millions - a huge annual poker tournament in Australia - in 2007. He tells every hand he played, the circumstance of the table, and his thought process behind is decisions. Fantastically boring for a non-poker player I'm sure, but exceptionally helpful to me. It got me inspired. I'm back playing online, and doing pretty well. I put $100 on my PokerStars account a week ago and have about $300 now. I'm going to try to build up a bankroll for Erik & my September trip to Vegas. We'll see how it goes, but right now I'm really lovin it.
Other than that, wedding plans are going fine. I'm sure there's something I should be doing right now but all the major stuff is taken care of, and we're down to details. I think it'll all work out just fine.
That's about it for now. I'm going to try to stay on the blogging thing. For me. It sure can't hurt. :-)
WEDNESDAY
So I'm not sure why I had such a funk with blogging. I tried to analyze why I didn't want to blog, and I think it was at least partly due to the fact that I've not been good with the bootcamp/eating/dieting thing and I feel like that girl that's always "gonna" lose weight but never does. This blog is supposed to help inspire me, keep me on track, and ultimately help me lose weight. When I've been bad, though I don't want to come on and say my weight, or say how bad I've been. So I say - ah - tomorrow I'll blog after I'm good today. But that just doesn't work sometimes.
So here's declaring. THIS BLOG IS FOR ME. Well duh, you say, who else would it be for? Well, no one in particular, but when you know someone's reading (even if it's only like 3 someones) you feel an obligation to do good. Well, I don't always do good. It's hard to lose weight. And you know what? I can still be a good person even if I don't.
So I'm back, I hope with the same goals, but hopefully not the same fears. Ironically I forgot to weigh myself this morning. Not at all in anticipation of this post. Yesterday morning i was at 217.4, so I'm sure I'm somewhere around there.
So - life is good otherwise. I've finally got some work to do, which translates to TONS of work to do. That's pretty much how it goes, though. Feast or famine. But it's better. I billed less than 100 hours last month (I should average b/w 160-180 each month). And this month until this week I hadn't billed even 40. So this is good. I'm not at a place where I worry about my job in the short run, but if that pace kept up, there'd definitely be trouble.
In other news, I've re-found my obsession with poker. I never really quit playing, and Erik and I have always gone out 1-2 nights a week to play with friends, but recently bought a book by a player I respect greatly, Gus Hansen, called Every Hand Revealed. It's basically the story of how he won the Aussie Millions - a huge annual poker tournament in Australia - in 2007. He tells every hand he played, the circumstance of the table, and his thought process behind is decisions. Fantastically boring for a non-poker player I'm sure, but exceptionally helpful to me. It got me inspired. I'm back playing online, and doing pretty well. I put $100 on my PokerStars account a week ago and have about $300 now. I'm going to try to build up a bankroll for Erik & my September trip to Vegas. We'll see how it goes, but right now I'm really lovin it.
Other than that, wedding plans are going fine. I'm sure there's something I should be doing right now but all the major stuff is taken care of, and we're down to details. I think it'll all work out just fine.
That's about it for now. I'm going to try to stay on the blogging thing. For me. It sure can't hurt. :-)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Grand Jury is fun!
216.2 (grrr).
WEDNESDAY
This week has been crazy busy, but really refreshing, too. Late last week I picked up a new matter that is in the area I want to work - White Collar. I can't say too much for confidentiality reasons, but basically we have a client who's being accused of anti-trust violations that have both civil and criminal ramifications. Yesterday the president/ceo of our client and two other employees, along with 2 former employees were subpoenaed before the federal grand jury here in Atlanta. I got to help prep the witnesses on Monday and attend the grand jury yesterday (well actually we couldn't go "in" to the grand jury, but it appears very similar to the state court grand juries I did as a prosecutor). Huge deal for our client, very interesting for me. I'm so happy to be on this case, and HOPE I can get into some more of those type of matters.
It's all the more important because I was really getting bored with my job. I'm only on one "real" case and the rest of my time is filled with helping out with various small matters. The firm is working on integrating me more, but meanwhile, it hasn't been all that rewarding. So this week was a nice change of pace.
Fitness -wise this week's been tough - as evidenced by the number on the scale this morning, which is actually lower than yesterday's 216.6. I had to miss boot camp yesterday to meet our client before the grand jury, and have generally just eaten poorly for the last 2 days. I really need to focus and get things back on track. I've got 1.5 weeks left of this boot camp and I'd really like to see another couple pounds gone. I still think it's been really helpful, but without keeping my food in check I won't see the results I want.
I have already decided to "re-up" for another 3 months of boot camp. Getting up at 5:00 am sucks, but I feel SOO good afterwards, and I'm really starting to bond with my trainers. And frankly, it's working. Even if I'm not seeing dramatic drops in the scale, I'm definitely stronger than when I started. I can do more sit ups, more push ups, more dips, and so many other things than when I started. I needed this to get me the strength training I've so avoided for so long. So, I'm in for the remainder of the time before the wedding. I need to do this.
Today I'm going to try to have a really good food day because I have Weigh In tomorrow for Weight Watchers. I'm pretty sure I'll see a loss regardless, but want it to be as good as possible. I already turned down a lunch invitation so I could make good choices here in the office instead (go me!).
Here's to a good day!
WEDNESDAY
This week has been crazy busy, but really refreshing, too. Late last week I picked up a new matter that is in the area I want to work - White Collar. I can't say too much for confidentiality reasons, but basically we have a client who's being accused of anti-trust violations that have both civil and criminal ramifications. Yesterday the president/ceo of our client and two other employees, along with 2 former employees were subpoenaed before the federal grand jury here in Atlanta. I got to help prep the witnesses on Monday and attend the grand jury yesterday (well actually we couldn't go "in" to the grand jury, but it appears very similar to the state court grand juries I did as a prosecutor). Huge deal for our client, very interesting for me. I'm so happy to be on this case, and HOPE I can get into some more of those type of matters.
It's all the more important because I was really getting bored with my job. I'm only on one "real" case and the rest of my time is filled with helping out with various small matters. The firm is working on integrating me more, but meanwhile, it hasn't been all that rewarding. So this week was a nice change of pace.
Fitness -wise this week's been tough - as evidenced by the number on the scale this morning, which is actually lower than yesterday's 216.6. I had to miss boot camp yesterday to meet our client before the grand jury, and have generally just eaten poorly for the last 2 days. I really need to focus and get things back on track. I've got 1.5 weeks left of this boot camp and I'd really like to see another couple pounds gone. I still think it's been really helpful, but without keeping my food in check I won't see the results I want.
I have already decided to "re-up" for another 3 months of boot camp. Getting up at 5:00 am sucks, but I feel SOO good afterwards, and I'm really starting to bond with my trainers. And frankly, it's working. Even if I'm not seeing dramatic drops in the scale, I'm definitely stronger than when I started. I can do more sit ups, more push ups, more dips, and so many other things than when I started. I needed this to get me the strength training I've so avoided for so long. So, I'm in for the remainder of the time before the wedding. I need to do this.
Today I'm going to try to have a really good food day because I have Weigh In tomorrow for Weight Watchers. I'm pretty sure I'll see a loss regardless, but want it to be as good as possible. I already turned down a lunch invitation so I could make good choices here in the office instead (go me!).
Here's to a good day!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Bam! Off the Wagon...
217.4 (see title)
FRIDAY
Ok, so I fell. Hard. Yesterday was a crazy hectic day after 12:00 pm. I was running around with a partner on a new case that is really cool and exciting, but really stressful too. I didn't get a good snack in for the afternoon, and then Erik & I decided to go out to Y-knots for poker. We haven't been out for a while with family obligations and all. So, I fell. Hard. I got to Y-knots tired, stressed and hungry. I.e. recipe for a major beer craving. Now, excluding my trip to Panama City to see my family, I haven't drank in a month. This from a girl that probably put away about 15 or so beers a week. At least. So, I was craving hard, and I totally gave in. Course giving into the bucket of beer (to share with Erik!) quickly led to giving into bad food choices for dinner - i.e. buffalo chicken fingers, tater tots & ranch. Grrr. Why? So not necessary.
So all in all I had 3 1/2 beers (including one once we got home). And yes, I was definitely tipsy from them. But I did get to sleep by 10:30. So I did make it to boot camp this morning after all, even if I was feeling a bit tired. Good work out - didn't feel like it at first, but got into it after the warm up.
Today I've still not crawled up on the wagon. I'm such a creature of habit that when my routine gets messed up, I lose it. This morning I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 am. I got an email from the partner I'm working with at 7:00 am this morning asking my to drop by when I get in to discuss some projects. I emailed him and subsequently talked to him on the phone about my dentist appointment but bottom line, I ended up rushing into work after getting my tooth drilled. I had a small snack after my work out at 6:30 am, but didn't want to eat before my dentist appointment. Then I was all numb afterwards, and didn't want to try to eat with half my face not working, so I didn't end up getting lunch till about 1:00 pm. When I was ravenously hungry and ended up getting a chick-fil-a sandwich AND a Moe's naked burrito AND tortilla chips from our cafeteria downstairs. Who eats like this? I figured maybe I could be strong and not eat the chips, which came with the Moe's order (thus I didn't intentionally purchase that much food...). But no - I have no will power. I used to be smart enough to just say - "no chips please". Why didn't I do that today? Because I secretly knew I'd eat every one of those chips and enjoy it.
So now it's 3:00 pm and I'm full, bloated, blah feeling. Not at all the "program" I'm supposed to be on with 5-6 small meals. I don't feel like eating again at all today, though I'm sure that'll change in a few hours, knowing me. Uck.
On top of that Erik & I got into an emotional discussion last night (after my 3 1/2 beers) about my weight issues, self esteem issues, body issues, etc., and how I didn't feel like he was really noticing all the hard work I was doing. It's all worked out, though. Bottom line is he's just not a strong communicator, and though I know he loves me and finds me attractive, he doesn't say it much because that's just him. He promised to work on it and I promised to try to not get emotional again too soon.. Lol.
So yeah, the last 24 hours have kinda sucked.
And now I'm looking at a weekend where I'm definitely going to have to work. I've had a project I've been futzing around with that is due Monday and I haven't been able to work on it the last two days with this new case. So I need to buckle down and work on that this afternoon. Get as much done as possible so I'm not stuck with too much this weekend.
Good news is we have no social plans this weekend except a poker game Sunday night. At a friends house, not at a bar, so no temptations should exist. I should definitely be able to get in some exercise, and most importantly considering my emotional state - some sleep. I WILL be sleeping in tomorrow, and loving every minute of it.
That's about it - ah the life of a lawyer-bride. :-)
FRIDAY
Ok, so I fell. Hard. Yesterday was a crazy hectic day after 12:00 pm. I was running around with a partner on a new case that is really cool and exciting, but really stressful too. I didn't get a good snack in for the afternoon, and then Erik & I decided to go out to Y-knots for poker. We haven't been out for a while with family obligations and all. So, I fell. Hard. I got to Y-knots tired, stressed and hungry. I.e. recipe for a major beer craving. Now, excluding my trip to Panama City to see my family, I haven't drank in a month. This from a girl that probably put away about 15 or so beers a week. At least. So, I was craving hard, and I totally gave in. Course giving into the bucket of beer (to share with Erik!) quickly led to giving into bad food choices for dinner - i.e. buffalo chicken fingers, tater tots & ranch. Grrr. Why? So not necessary.
So all in all I had 3 1/2 beers (including one once we got home). And yes, I was definitely tipsy from them. But I did get to sleep by 10:30. So I did make it to boot camp this morning after all, even if I was feeling a bit tired. Good work out - didn't feel like it at first, but got into it after the warm up.
Today I've still not crawled up on the wagon. I'm such a creature of habit that when my routine gets messed up, I lose it. This morning I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 am. I got an email from the partner I'm working with at 7:00 am this morning asking my to drop by when I get in to discuss some projects. I emailed him and subsequently talked to him on the phone about my dentist appointment but bottom line, I ended up rushing into work after getting my tooth drilled. I had a small snack after my work out at 6:30 am, but didn't want to eat before my dentist appointment. Then I was all numb afterwards, and didn't want to try to eat with half my face not working, so I didn't end up getting lunch till about 1:00 pm. When I was ravenously hungry and ended up getting a chick-fil-a sandwich AND a Moe's naked burrito AND tortilla chips from our cafeteria downstairs. Who eats like this? I figured maybe I could be strong and not eat the chips, which came with the Moe's order (thus I didn't intentionally purchase that much food...). But no - I have no will power. I used to be smart enough to just say - "no chips please". Why didn't I do that today? Because I secretly knew I'd eat every one of those chips and enjoy it.
So now it's 3:00 pm and I'm full, bloated, blah feeling. Not at all the "program" I'm supposed to be on with 5-6 small meals. I don't feel like eating again at all today, though I'm sure that'll change in a few hours, knowing me. Uck.
On top of that Erik & I got into an emotional discussion last night (after my 3 1/2 beers) about my weight issues, self esteem issues, body issues, etc., and how I didn't feel like he was really noticing all the hard work I was doing. It's all worked out, though. Bottom line is he's just not a strong communicator, and though I know he loves me and finds me attractive, he doesn't say it much because that's just him. He promised to work on it and I promised to try to not get emotional again too soon.. Lol.
So yeah, the last 24 hours have kinda sucked.
And now I'm looking at a weekend where I'm definitely going to have to work. I've had a project I've been futzing around with that is due Monday and I haven't been able to work on it the last two days with this new case. So I need to buckle down and work on that this afternoon. Get as much done as possible so I'm not stuck with too much this weekend.
Good news is we have no social plans this weekend except a poker game Sunday night. At a friends house, not at a bar, so no temptations should exist. I should definitely be able to get in some exercise, and most importantly considering my emotional state - some sleep. I WILL be sleeping in tomorrow, and loving every minute of it.
That's about it - ah the life of a lawyer-bride. :-)
Friday, May 9, 2008
Boot Camp Day 2...
219.0 (oww. sore - i.e. water retention anyone?)
FRIDAY
Yes, so I have nothing else to talk about right now. Or maybe I do, but I can't seem to focus on anything but oww. My body hurts. I totally love it though and love that I've committed to it and that commitment doesn't require me deciding when to exercise in the day. I've had tons of "recommitments" to exercising and dieting, but this is the first one where I really have someone else looking over my shoulder. And I paid them a whole bunch to do the looking... So, I think I'll be able to stick with it. At least for the month, and hopefully more.
On that note I spoke to several people who are "vetrans" meaning this is not their first month. That they have such a good return rate bodes well for me.
Funny story happened this week. Yesterday at my first work out, something odd happened. Now remember it's 5-freakin-30 in the morning so it's still dark. Nevertheless as people arrived yesterday I glanced to see if I knew anyone in the class. It is in my home county and I worked there as a DA for 3 years and have lived there almost 4 now, so who knows. I didn't really think I'd see anyone, because most of the people I know are poker playing drinking buddies who would rather die than get up at 5:00 am to work out. Anyway, I didn't see anyone I knew.
So about 20 minutes into the workout they had us doing these stair-runs. There are two sets of stairs at the library near where we work out so we run up one, down the other, back up, down, etc. for at least 3 laps. The trainers are encouraging us the whole way and suggest that you pass on the left if you can. So I generally keep to the right unless there's someone super slow in front of me. So I was jogging along down the stairs, remember in the dark, and a very tall guy passes me on the left and says "Hey Cindy - how's it going?" I thought he might be one of the trainers, or just someone who read my name tag b/c everyone's real friendly in the class. So I said something like "ah - I'm alive". Then as he passed me I realized he was not one of the trainers, but just someone in the class. It seemed odd that he singled me out like that, and my name tag was not exactly easily visible in the dawn lighting. So I got to thinking this must be someone who knows me.
Well, thoughts of who this guy was quickly left my mind as there are some 30 people in the class and I was trying to focus on not busting my ass going down the stairs or on the multitude of other stressful activities during the work out. I didn't think about it again till later yesterday when I was telling Holly about the work out. She of course was massively curious about who this mystery boy was. So I agreed to try to figure it out today.
So it was about 20 minutes in this morning when I remembered to look for him.
*side note - you can tell I'm happily engaged because it kept slipping my mind to figure out who a good looking, tall young guy was. 3 years ago, I would have been all over that immediately. It's comforting to know that although I do still admire men, I'm really not at all "looking" for anyone but my fabulous fiance... :-)
So I found the guy during one of our calisthenics portions of the work out and kept glancing over to get a look at his face. Eventually it dawned on me that he was an officer at the sheriff's office in my county - where I used to be a DA. Not most recently, but when I first got the job I spent about 18 months in my county before being transferred to the county just south. So I probably haven't seen this guy in over 2 years. So of course I totally forgot his name. I kept trying to remember it as we did our running exercises and he was easily passing everyone and leading the pack. Finally, I decided that Holly would know once I described him and today at least I'd get over there and say hi, hopefully not needing to say his name in the conversation - oh and try to get a peek at his name tag.
During the cool down stretching I set myself up next to him and said hi- didn't recognize you yesterday. Then during our various stretches tried to peek at his name tag. In the dark. I determined I thought it said Jonathan, which didn't sound right, but I assumed Holly'd be able to help me out. I actually had some doubts about him being who I thought he was, and maybe I was making a fool of myself saying "I didn't recognize you yesterday." Then at the end of the work out I had a question to ask the trainer and he was standing there and the trainer said his name - Josh -. RIGHT! Josh. His name tag actually said Joshua, which in the dark I read as Jonathan. Oh well. now I know. It was cool, too because after we asked our questions of the trainer, he told me that he and a girl I know how's a prosecutor in the state court of my county were running a 5K tomorrow morning in our county. I told him I'd look into it and hope to see him there. I told Erik about it and am going to try to bully him into going. He needs the exercise too, right?
So - mystery solved. I remember Josh as a really nice guy and very good detective. I'll have to try to find time to chat with him about what's going on locally lately. Fun times, though. And now I have a friend in the class, which is also cool, despite the fact that it doesn't seem nearly as challenging to him as it is to me. Ah well - that's how we get better, right?
So today I did my PT test. I was actually pretty proud of my 1 mile run. I did it in 9:09. Not bad. Certainly not what I could do years ago, but good. The trainer timing me said - "you can definitely run" which was nice to hear, even if I know he can probably run a 5:30 mile. I told him that's about all I can do, and I need to work on the strength stuff. There were 2 other people who were doing the PT test with me and both of them finished in about 11:35 so I felt good about my 9:00 mile. Hopefully it'll be even better at the end of the month.
Now the rest of the PT test was a different story. Sit ups, push ups, and dips. Kicked my butt. Definitely a LOT of room for improvement there.
So, I get 2 days off of the morning routine, which is nice. I hope to get up and do the 5K tomorrow, but at least it won't be 5:00 am. Sunday - I'm sleepin in!
A few other things going on, but I'll save them for another post. Need to get SOME work done today.... :-)
FRIDAY
Yes, so I have nothing else to talk about right now. Or maybe I do, but I can't seem to focus on anything but oww. My body hurts. I totally love it though and love that I've committed to it and that commitment doesn't require me deciding when to exercise in the day. I've had tons of "recommitments" to exercising and dieting, but this is the first one where I really have someone else looking over my shoulder. And I paid them a whole bunch to do the looking... So, I think I'll be able to stick with it. At least for the month, and hopefully more.
On that note I spoke to several people who are "vetrans" meaning this is not their first month. That they have such a good return rate bodes well for me.
Funny story happened this week. Yesterday at my first work out, something odd happened. Now remember it's 5-freakin-30 in the morning so it's still dark. Nevertheless as people arrived yesterday I glanced to see if I knew anyone in the class. It is in my home county and I worked there as a DA for 3 years and have lived there almost 4 now, so who knows. I didn't really think I'd see anyone, because most of the people I know are poker playing drinking buddies who would rather die than get up at 5:00 am to work out. Anyway, I didn't see anyone I knew.
So about 20 minutes into the workout they had us doing these stair-runs. There are two sets of stairs at the library near where we work out so we run up one, down the other, back up, down, etc. for at least 3 laps. The trainers are encouraging us the whole way and suggest that you pass on the left if you can. So I generally keep to the right unless there's someone super slow in front of me. So I was jogging along down the stairs, remember in the dark, and a very tall guy passes me on the left and says "Hey Cindy - how's it going?" I thought he might be one of the trainers, or just someone who read my name tag b/c everyone's real friendly in the class. So I said something like "ah - I'm alive". Then as he passed me I realized he was not one of the trainers, but just someone in the class. It seemed odd that he singled me out like that, and my name tag was not exactly easily visible in the dawn lighting. So I got to thinking this must be someone who knows me.
Well, thoughts of who this guy was quickly left my mind as there are some 30 people in the class and I was trying to focus on not busting my ass going down the stairs or on the multitude of other stressful activities during the work out. I didn't think about it again till later yesterday when I was telling Holly about the work out. She of course was massively curious about who this mystery boy was. So I agreed to try to figure it out today.
So it was about 20 minutes in this morning when I remembered to look for him.
*side note - you can tell I'm happily engaged because it kept slipping my mind to figure out who a good looking, tall young guy was. 3 years ago, I would have been all over that immediately. It's comforting to know that although I do still admire men, I'm really not at all "looking" for anyone but my fabulous fiance... :-)
So I found the guy during one of our calisthenics portions of the work out and kept glancing over to get a look at his face. Eventually it dawned on me that he was an officer at the sheriff's office in my county - where I used to be a DA. Not most recently, but when I first got the job I spent about 18 months in my county before being transferred to the county just south. So I probably haven't seen this guy in over 2 years. So of course I totally forgot his name. I kept trying to remember it as we did our running exercises and he was easily passing everyone and leading the pack. Finally, I decided that Holly would know once I described him and today at least I'd get over there and say hi, hopefully not needing to say his name in the conversation - oh and try to get a peek at his name tag.
During the cool down stretching I set myself up next to him and said hi- didn't recognize you yesterday. Then during our various stretches tried to peek at his name tag. In the dark. I determined I thought it said Jonathan, which didn't sound right, but I assumed Holly'd be able to help me out. I actually had some doubts about him being who I thought he was, and maybe I was making a fool of myself saying "I didn't recognize you yesterday." Then at the end of the work out I had a question to ask the trainer and he was standing there and the trainer said his name - Josh -. RIGHT! Josh. His name tag actually said Joshua, which in the dark I read as Jonathan. Oh well. now I know. It was cool, too because after we asked our questions of the trainer, he told me that he and a girl I know how's a prosecutor in the state court of my county were running a 5K tomorrow morning in our county. I told him I'd look into it and hope to see him there. I told Erik about it and am going to try to bully him into going. He needs the exercise too, right?
So - mystery solved. I remember Josh as a really nice guy and very good detective. I'll have to try to find time to chat with him about what's going on locally lately. Fun times, though. And now I have a friend in the class, which is also cool, despite the fact that it doesn't seem nearly as challenging to him as it is to me. Ah well - that's how we get better, right?
So today I did my PT test. I was actually pretty proud of my 1 mile run. I did it in 9:09. Not bad. Certainly not what I could do years ago, but good. The trainer timing me said - "you can definitely run" which was nice to hear, even if I know he can probably run a 5:30 mile. I told him that's about all I can do, and I need to work on the strength stuff. There were 2 other people who were doing the PT test with me and both of them finished in about 11:35 so I felt good about my 9:00 mile. Hopefully it'll be even better at the end of the month.
Now the rest of the PT test was a different story. Sit ups, push ups, and dips. Kicked my butt. Definitely a LOT of room for improvement there.
So, I get 2 days off of the morning routine, which is nice. I hope to get up and do the 5K tomorrow, but at least it won't be 5:00 am. Sunday - I'm sleepin in!
A few other things going on, but I'll save them for another post. Need to get SOME work done today.... :-)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Boot Camp?
218.6 - better, but still need to go DOWN.
TUESDAY
I've had a hard time recently at work. I'm not super busy, so I find myself screwing off a lot. Now, I've got a few projects that I should be working on, but I have a hard time finding the motivaiton to accomplish them. I've gotten used to screwing off I guess. Not a good thing. Particularly when you're evaluated by your billable hours... So - needless to say, here I am, blogging and screwing off at work...
Well, the scale was nicer today, but still up 4 lbs from last Thursday. I've got some work to do to get things back where they should be. We're just under 4 months from the wedding now and it's getting to be crunch time. That said, I might have found a good solution. And expensive solution, but one that I think might actually work. I think I'm going to do this boot camp. It sound like a KILLER, but that's what I need. It's like $325 bucks for the first month and $275/month after that. Really expensive, but it is 4 days a week for 2 weeks and then 5 days a week for the last 2 weeks. So that's less than $20 a session, which is cheaper than the personal trainers around here.
Unfortunately, I missed the start of this month, which is probably good. I think I'll plan to do June, then possibly July & August as well. Just to get me through the final stretch before the wedding. The only real negative, is that the one closest to me starts the earliest in the morning - at 5:30 AM! Crazy. But, with my current schedule I could actually go, take a shower, and go back to bed for a couple hours before going to work. Might not be all that bad... I called yesterday to see if I could get into this months session as it started on Monday and I would have just missed the first one, but they never called me back. I keep going back and forth over whether I want to still try to sneak in this month. I really shouldn't pay that much for so many months, but I want to get started.
Too bad I can't motivate my own ass to get up at 5:30 am and work out, huh? I guess that's why these places exist.
TUESDAY
I've had a hard time recently at work. I'm not super busy, so I find myself screwing off a lot. Now, I've got a few projects that I should be working on, but I have a hard time finding the motivaiton to accomplish them. I've gotten used to screwing off I guess. Not a good thing. Particularly when you're evaluated by your billable hours... So - needless to say, here I am, blogging and screwing off at work...
Well, the scale was nicer today, but still up 4 lbs from last Thursday. I've got some work to do to get things back where they should be. We're just under 4 months from the wedding now and it's getting to be crunch time. That said, I might have found a good solution. And expensive solution, but one that I think might actually work. I think I'm going to do this boot camp. It sound like a KILLER, but that's what I need. It's like $325 bucks for the first month and $275/month after that. Really expensive, but it is 4 days a week for 2 weeks and then 5 days a week for the last 2 weeks. So that's less than $20 a session, which is cheaper than the personal trainers around here.
Unfortunately, I missed the start of this month, which is probably good. I think I'll plan to do June, then possibly July & August as well. Just to get me through the final stretch before the wedding. The only real negative, is that the one closest to me starts the earliest in the morning - at 5:30 AM! Crazy. But, with my current schedule I could actually go, take a shower, and go back to bed for a couple hours before going to work. Might not be all that bad... I called yesterday to see if I could get into this months session as it started on Monday and I would have just missed the first one, but they never called me back. I keep going back and forth over whether I want to still try to sneak in this month. I really shouldn't pay that much for so many months, but I want to get started.
Too bad I can't motivate my own ass to get up at 5:30 am and work out, huh? I guess that's why these places exist.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Weee Living healthy really DOES work...
218.0
Monday
This weekend was WONDERFUL. Well, it actually started off bad because my Lasik procedure didn't happen. Really frustrating. I took the day off work, and had it all scheduled to get a ride for my 11:00 am appointment. Then I got a call, the night before, from the clinic - one of those computer reminders - that said "just reminding you of your appointment at 1:15 pm." What? I thought it was at 11:00. It's like 7 pm when they call so I just go with it and call my ride to reschedule. So I show up at 1:05 pm on Friday. I get there and she says "what? you're appointment was at 11:00!" Oh hell. Turns out the call they gave me was for my follow up appointment on tuesday. Why they called me for THAT appointment the day before my surgery, I don't KNOW. But by the time I got there, the doctor was on his way out to other appointments and could do it. I was SOOO frustrated I actually cried in the stupid eye clinic. Grrr. But - I took the frustration home, allowed myself a luxury nap then got back to work on unpacking and eating right.
I've been very good for about 5 days with a little splurge last night at Longhorn. This Sparkpeople thing is working really well right now. I actually saw 216.6 on the scale yesterday. Then Longhorn and a few beers last night, but today - right back on track. I've had 1450 calories for the day AND ran 4 miles today on the treadmill, walking 1 more for a total of 817 calories burned! Hell yeah! So I know that's really not enough food for one day with that kind of work out but today is a detox day after yesterday's splurge. I'll balance out again tomorrow to a reasonable number. Hopefully I'll see that beautiful 216 again tomorrow!
I'm still going to keep weighing in with WW because I bought at 16 week at-work pass so I'm already paid. I just won't tell them I'm doing sparkpeople instead. It's still good for the weekly accountability and the pep talks. Besides if I lose 10lbs in the session my firm will reimburse 50% of my costs. I'm only down 3 as of last weigh in so I need to do 7 in the next 6 weeks or so to get that reimbursement. They way this week is going, though I think I'll hit 5 by Thursday.
Why is it that some weeks motivation doesn't seem to be a problem. Why are those weeks so few and far between? I'm going to ride this as long as I can...
Monday
This weekend was WONDERFUL. Well, it actually started off bad because my Lasik procedure didn't happen. Really frustrating. I took the day off work, and had it all scheduled to get a ride for my 11:00 am appointment. Then I got a call, the night before, from the clinic - one of those computer reminders - that said "just reminding you of your appointment at 1:15 pm." What? I thought it was at 11:00. It's like 7 pm when they call so I just go with it and call my ride to reschedule. So I show up at 1:05 pm on Friday. I get there and she says "what? you're appointment was at 11:00!" Oh hell. Turns out the call they gave me was for my follow up appointment on tuesday. Why they called me for THAT appointment the day before my surgery, I don't KNOW. But by the time I got there, the doctor was on his way out to other appointments and could do it. I was SOOO frustrated I actually cried in the stupid eye clinic. Grrr. But - I took the frustration home, allowed myself a luxury nap then got back to work on unpacking and eating right.
I've been very good for about 5 days with a little splurge last night at Longhorn. This Sparkpeople thing is working really well right now. I actually saw 216.6 on the scale yesterday. Then Longhorn and a few beers last night, but today - right back on track. I've had 1450 calories for the day AND ran 4 miles today on the treadmill, walking 1 more for a total of 817 calories burned! Hell yeah! So I know that's really not enough food for one day with that kind of work out but today is a detox day after yesterday's splurge. I'll balance out again tomorrow to a reasonable number. Hopefully I'll see that beautiful 216 again tomorrow!
I'm still going to keep weighing in with WW because I bought at 16 week at-work pass so I'm already paid. I just won't tell them I'm doing sparkpeople instead. It's still good for the weekly accountability and the pep talks. Besides if I lose 10lbs in the session my firm will reimburse 50% of my costs. I'm only down 3 as of last weigh in so I need to do 7 in the next 6 weeks or so to get that reimbursement. They way this week is going, though I think I'll hit 5 by Thursday.
Why is it that some weeks motivation doesn't seem to be a problem. Why are those weeks so few and far between? I'm going to ride this as long as I can...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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...
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...
Monday, February 11, 2008
Back on the Exercise Wagon
Last WI: 222.2/WW WI 223.2/At Home WI: 220.8
MONDAY
So I was very good this weekend until last night, but I'll get to that. Friday night I actually worked until 8:30. It wasn't planned, just something that happened. Another associate needed help getting a project out the door and I had no major plans (Erik had Daniel) so I agreed to help out. Not bad for the hours anyway. I did hit McDonalds on the way home, but hadn't eaten much all day so I call that an "ok" day. Saturday I kicked butt. It was a VERY productive day. Erik had a Toastmasters meeting so I agreed to watch Daniel for a few hours during the day. After a bit of Wii (he is addicted, that boy) we went out and ran all the errands I had on my list. When we came home we played a bit more Wii (I rented two games, so I encourage his addiction I guess). Then Erik came home and I ran out to meet Holly to look at invitations for the wedding. I ended up ordering very cute poker invitations. I'm very excited about them, I'm supposed to get the proof today. I'm not excited about the price, but everything about weddings seems expensive.
After invitations, I met with my realtor, and signed what I think will be the final contract on our house. They accepted our final offer that went out on Thursday. We are set to close on March 18, so the next month is going to be CRAZY. After meeting with the realtor, I came home and ran on the treadmill. Nothing fabulous, but I did make a whole mile before walking. Considering my significant lapse in exercise commitment, I'll take it. I ended up covering 2 1/2 miles I think. not bad.
Sunday I got up before church (the EARLY) service even, and lifted with my new weights I bought at Walmart on Saturday. Boy am I feeling it today. I did just upper body and I knew I'd be sore in my legs from the run. Then we went to church. Then Holly, Erik, me and Daniel went back to our wedding facility for thier "wedding extravaganza". Basically I got to try their food, make some final decisions on chair covers/centerpieces, and show Erik the whole place. I think he liked, but I also don't think he cares too much.
After that Erik & Daniel went home and Holly & I went to IKEA. I LOVE IKEA, but I just get very overwhelmed in there. We were there b/c Holly need to by a dresser, and I wanted to look at bookshelves for the new house. I didn't buy any because obviously we haven't closed, but I think I know what I want if things all go as planned.
After that Erik and I went home and played Wii baseball until 12:30 in the morning. I had rented a baseball game because I know he likes the Wii Sports baseball game. I don't love it and should have known it would frustrate the hell out of me. He beat me 3 games in a row and we did one more that I think he let me win. I was SO frustrated. I hate being a sore loser, but I'm so competitive, it's hard to stop sometimes. I appologized for being so frustrated and I know he forgives me and understands, but sheesh. Get over it cindy - it's just a GAME.
Ah - can't stop my competitive nature I guess.
But yesterday was full of bad food choices. I didn't do so bad for breakfast - had an egg on a english muffin, but lunch was burger king and dinner was the Varsity (a really greasy drive-in in Atlanta) with taste testing in between on the site. Oh and 4 beers while playing Wii w/Erik. So not necessary. I'm so mad at myself, especially for the beer, because it really is a waste. Yes, I like the taste of beer, but 4 beers over 4 hours isn't going to affect me at all, and it's just wasted calories. When will I learn....
Today I plan to have a very low point day. I saw as low as 219.2 yesterday on the scale, so today's number is understandable but a disappointment. I really want to see a good loss on Thursday so now's the time to get things in the right direction. I do have dinner plans with my "mentor" at work, but I've already vowed to order a salad. Hopefully I can stick to that....
Friday, February 8, 2008
Another Day Logged
Last WI: 222.2/WW WI 223.2/At Home WI: 221.2 (ok)
FRIDAY
So yesterday was WI day. On my morning weigh in (WW and this site) I weighed in at 222.2 or + 0.4. Not horrible and probably deserved since I went way off program Thursday -Sunday. Tried to get things back in line Monday on, but succeeded in basically minimizing the damage. Not bad. My meeting WI was an exact maintain which isn't surprising since I didn't eat or drink anything before the 12:00 meeting (was STARVING, won't do that again).
Busy week work wise. I spent too much time on Monday doing wedding stuff, but the rest of the week was pretty productive work-wise. Last night I was here till 10:30 finishing a project, so I should be able to leave on time today. Plans for this weekend - pick out invitations on Saturday, wedding site tasting on Sunday and update website & guest list in between.
I think we may have a final contract on the house we're looking at today, also, which is pretty exciting. We're waiting to hear back from the seller on a few final details, but I expect to be signing docs this afternoon!
Other than that, just living and loving life. I'm very blessed. If I could just start LOSING weight, my life would be perfect. :-)
FRIDAY
So yesterday was WI day. On my morning weigh in (WW and this site) I weighed in at 222.2 or + 0.4. Not horrible and probably deserved since I went way off program Thursday -Sunday. Tried to get things back in line Monday on, but succeeded in basically minimizing the damage. Not bad. My meeting WI was an exact maintain which isn't surprising since I didn't eat or drink anything before the 12:00 meeting (was STARVING, won't do that again).
Busy week work wise. I spent too much time on Monday doing wedding stuff, but the rest of the week was pretty productive work-wise. Last night I was here till 10:30 finishing a project, so I should be able to leave on time today. Plans for this weekend - pick out invitations on Saturday, wedding site tasting on Sunday and update website & guest list in between.
I think we may have a final contract on the house we're looking at today, also, which is pretty exciting. We're waiting to hear back from the seller on a few final details, but I expect to be signing docs this afternoon!
Other than that, just living and loving life. I'm very blessed. If I could just start LOSING weight, my life would be perfect. :-)
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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!
Friday, January 4, 2008
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...
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...
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Highly Paid Internet Surfer.
Last WI: 221.6/At Home WI: 221.6
THURSDAY
I made some goals this week and so far I've kept two out of four. First, I was going to log all my food into my online WW journal every day regardless of how bad I was. Check. (and boy did yesterday look bad...). Second, I vowed to weigh in once a week, at home, on Thursday mornings, and record it online at WW (and here). Check. This morning showed a one pound gain, but considering yesterday's scary number, and my new years binge, I think I can handle that.
Goals three and four haven't gone as smoothly. Goal three - cardio 3 x per week. Goal 4 - strength 1 x per week. Granted I haven't been through a week yet, but so far nill on both. I totally planned to run yesterday (hello - treadmill 30 steps away from the bed...) but slacked. And slacked and slacked. no excuse. Just lazy. Why? Again, no excuse. Grrr.
So I've got to find a way to commit. I had hoped to start training for a half marathon here in Atlanta in March. I can still do it, but need to get my butt in gear NOW. I need to make up a schedule and stick to it. I'm going to do that right after I post this.
As for strength training? i know I need to do more than once a week. But I SOO hate doing it right now that I feel like once a week would be a great success. Maybe I'll go tonight after work....
As for work, I still have nothing to do, but have work on the horizon. I have a 10am meeting tomorrow to pick up a new case, and a 9am meeting on Monday for a current case. I'm also supposed to be hearing from a young partner this afternoon about a project, so there's hope. Meanwhile, I've been a very highly paid internet surfer.
THURSDAY
I made some goals this week and so far I've kept two out of four. First, I was going to log all my food into my online WW journal every day regardless of how bad I was. Check. (and boy did yesterday look bad...). Second, I vowed to weigh in once a week, at home, on Thursday mornings, and record it online at WW (and here). Check. This morning showed a one pound gain, but considering yesterday's scary number, and my new years binge, I think I can handle that.
Goals three and four haven't gone as smoothly. Goal three - cardio 3 x per week. Goal 4 - strength 1 x per week. Granted I haven't been through a week yet, but so far nill on both. I totally planned to run yesterday (hello - treadmill 30 steps away from the bed...) but slacked. And slacked and slacked. no excuse. Just lazy. Why? Again, no excuse. Grrr.
So I've got to find a way to commit. I had hoped to start training for a half marathon here in Atlanta in March. I can still do it, but need to get my butt in gear NOW. I need to make up a schedule and stick to it. I'm going to do that right after I post this.
As for strength training? i know I need to do more than once a week. But I SOO hate doing it right now that I feel like once a week would be a great success. Maybe I'll go tonight after work....
As for work, I still have nothing to do, but have work on the horizon. I have a 10am meeting tomorrow to pick up a new case, and a 9am meeting on Monday for a current case. I'm also supposed to be hearing from a young partner this afternoon about a project, so there's hope. Meanwhile, I've been a very highly paid internet surfer.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
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.
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.
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