New Hair!

Here's a pic of my new haircut! Hope you all have a great weekend!

"I'm so excited and I just can't hide it"

Every time I hear or think, "I'm so excited," I get this image in my head from a very cheesy episode of "Saved by the Bell." The one where Kelly, Jessie, and Lisa form a girl band and make a music video.

Annnyyyywaaaayyys, I'm very excited about getting my hair cut tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to a change. I've had this same length of hair for about 3 years now and I need a change! This time tomorrow I'll be getting it cut! I'll be sure to post some pics.

Still doing well. I already feel like the medicine is helping so that's good. It has been giving me some tummy issues but nothing too big, just a little irritating.

Haven't worked out or ran since Monday. Tuesday was a bit of a mess, yesterday I was extremely tired, and then today it's in the teens with the windchill...too cold for me! Plus with the tummy issues, I didn't want to get sick as I was running. But it's okay, I needed to focus on my mental health the last couple of days so no biggie. I am hoping to get to the gym tomorrow morning before my hair appointment.

Alright, well, I don't have much else to say other than my mom sent me pumpkin bread which I love, love, love!! Glad I'm not home today b/c it would already be gone. I'm thinking I might try to freeze slices of it and then pull out a slice when I want a treat.

Feeling Much Better

So I called my mom yesterday, pretty much immediately after I finished posting. We talked for a while, I cried, she cried. Ultimately, I came to the decision that I need to be back on meds for a while and my mom whole-heartedly agreed. I think I already knew that's what I needed to do but I had to have someone else tell me. It was very hard for me to admit that I need the meds. I took them for about 2 years in college. When I stopped taking them, I really felt that I had beat depression. I knew what my triggers were and I knew the steps I needed to take to keep it from coming back (exercise, "me" time, etc). This the only time I've had my depression come back so strongly. I've had a couple of days here and there where I felt a bit down but nothing like the last few weeks. I don't know if I can describe how hard it was for me to admit I needed meds. When I stopped taking them before, I really felt I would never, ever be back on medicine for my moods. But I have to look at depression as being a disease that I have and, possibly for the rest of my life, I might have periods where I'm on medicine and periods when I'm not on meds.

After talking to my mom, I called my doctor and spoke with her. She recommended meds and talking to a therapist if I thought that might help. The plan right now is for me to be on the meds for at least the next 6 months. When I go to see my doctor in August for my annual check-up or with my therapist before then that I'm feeling better and I just needed the meds for a while, we can discuss going back off the meds. I called around yesterday and have an appointment with a therapist in mid-March. As soon as I realized I had a way to deal with this, I felt better yesterday.

I called Stephen at work yesterday and we talked about it for about 10 minutes and then last night we talked about it for an hour or so. He's completely supportive and such a great guy. After he talked to me yesterday during work, he called my mom and talked to her and reassured her that he knew what was going on and that he was going to help me in whatever ways he needed to. (Seriously, he called my mother...what a great guy!) I'll make it through and he's going to be there with me.

After talking through this with Stephen and my mom yesterday I think there's several things that triggered this episode:
1) MBA schools and not getting in anywhere
2) Uncertainty about my job now since I'll have to find other employment but don't want to do what I'm doing at my current job.
3) Lingering grief about my grandpa dying
4) the weather. Winter is bad for my moods, I already knew it but I think combined with the other things, it ends up being a pretty big factor.
5) How slow the weight loss has been occurring. I'm losing, but by god, it's incredibly slow.
6) I'm not good about taking care of myself sometimes and voicing when I need some alone time. Definitely something I can work on though!

Friday is my AWS day and I've made a hair appointment and I'm thinking about getting a mani/pedi as well. I'm looking forward to it! Honestly, I felt so much better after talking to everyone yesterday and realizing that I have all kinds of people willing to help me and I'm not alone in this. Thank you for all your kind words yesterday.

Thoughts

Warning up front: this post will most likely be not inspiring at all, so if you're looking for an inspiration today, you should probably go somewhere else.

So last night I woke up at 1:30 and was awake until about 4:30. Yep, I lost three hours of sleep last night. Mentally, I'm exhausted. I've been exhausted mentally and emotionally for weeks now. Everything feels like a struggle. I'm tired of things being so hard all the time. I don't know if it's my depression coming back or just a down moment. And I can't pinpoint exactly what it was that triggered the last few weeks but I do know I had a minor mental breakdown last night in the middle of the night and it's just continued this morning. (I'd like to stay home today but I have a farewell lunch for one of my favorite co-workers and my aunt's in town so I'm eating dinner with her.) Typically, I don't struggle with my depression if I'm eating right and working out but those two things don't feel like they're doing anything right now.

Part of this depression episode/moment is that I feel like everyone is telling me what to do or how I should be. Stephen's always telling me I need to be more aggressive and assertive. For example, we were at the Container Store this weekend walking down an aisle and in front of us, were 3 people talking to each other taking up the whole aisle. I just stood behind them waiting for them to move (I said "excuse me" but I don't think they heard me) and Stephen's behind me telling me I should just push through them. After they do move, he lectures me about how I need to be more assertive and aggressive with people. Granted, sometimes I do but I also know that I'm a people pleaser and a peace seeker. I'll let people walk all over me if it means there's no confrontations and no one gets angry. I can't change these things about me...I've tried but growing up in a house where I was the peace keeper between my mom and my dad and my dad and my sister, some of these habits are ingrained into who I am and I can't just make them go away. It doesn't work like that. I am trying to be assertive about my opinions and my feelings with my family and with Stephen. But last night when I was awake, he woke up and asked me why I couldn't sleep. I told him that I was thinking about things and he wanted to know what things. I told him I didn't want to talk about it b/c at the time I didn't. I was working through all these thoughts in my head and had no idea how to begin to describe it to someone else (plus when you tell a guy a problem, they automatically want to help you with a solution and I don't need that right now, I just need someone to listen). He gets mad that I won't tell him what I'm thinking about. Thanks, that certainly doesn't help.

I just feel that everyone is always criticizing me and never compliments me. I know that part of this is a perception on my part b/c that's the way I talk to myself. I'm very critical of myself.

I know this is sort of rambley and not related to food or exercise but I'm struggling right now and need to share this with someone. I'm going to call my mom and hopefully she has some time to talk and listen to me (she's struggled with depression her entire life and has been there with me through my previous episodes) and then tonight I'm going to talk to Stephen about what's been on my mind even if it is hard. Thanks for listening.

I'm a workout machine!

First things first, weighed in on Friday and was down .6 of a lb. So still downward movement but my body is very reluctant to let this weight go. As long as it keeps going down, that's all that matters and if it takes a while, it takes a while.

I had a great weekend!! My major victory for the weekend is that I worked out everyday! Friday I hit the gym for 30 minutes, Saturday Stephen and I walked about 4 miles, and Sunday we hit the gym for an hour. I was so excited to come to work today and put an exercise sticker for every day on my calendar!!

We stayed home from work on Friday due to an impending snow/ice storm that ended up being just rain. So the weather forecasters really missed that one! We went and saw "Vantage Point." I thought it was a really good movie, Stephen wasn't so impressed with it. We also did a lot of shopping this weekend and I got a new shirt and skirt for work at Ann Taylor Loft. But, seriously, my spending habits need to change! I've read that you only have so much willpower and if you're trying to control both your eating and your spending, one of them usually gets shortchanged and you either eat well but spend too much or spend well but eat too much. Either way, I've bought a lot of new clothes lately and I'm putting myself on a strict budget until my ski trip...no more new clothes! It's really gotten out of hand the last few weeks.

It was a good weekend though. Stephen and I were active every single day and I made pretty good food choices. Saturday night we did end up in a bar watching Oklahoma State beat Kansas (the #5 team in the country) so I had a couple of drinks and we shared pizza and chips but over the last week that's the only time we've splurged calorie-wise so I'm totally okay with it. I've had a craving for pizza over the last few weeks anyways. No big deal, only over my calorie allowance by 300 for the day and since we got in some great exercise this weekend, I'm definitely not sweating it.

Alright, well I need to get going on my project this morning since I have another project now too. Have a great Monday everyone!!

Winter Mixes and Happy Hours

I'm so glad Jen and Sara knew what Wendy's sandwiches I was talking about yesterday! Makes me feel not so crazy.

Let's see...not much to report here. It snowed yesterday afternoon. Actually while I was running at lunch it started snowing. We only got an inch or so but starting at midnight tonight we are supposed to get rain, snow, sleet, and ice all mixed together (the famed "winter mix"). Personally, I think the forecasters just call it "winter mix" when they're unsure what it's going to be: good (rain) or bad (snow) or really bad (sleet/ice). I'm taking some work home with me tonight so if it's bad in the morning, I can just stay home where it's nice and warm. I think Stephen has the same plan.

Tonight we have a happy hour for the alumni associate of my alma mater. I'm planning on a rum and diet coke...my favorite drink and I don't keep diet coke at home anymore b/c I'll just leave out the rum and start drinking diet cokes all the time. Dinner's in the Crock-Pot (ham and beans) so we'll be able to walk in and start eating within 5 or 10 minutes. We usually eat dinner around 6 or 6:30 and since this happy hour doesn't start until 6, both Stephen and I will be hungry when we get home.

Well, don't have anything too exciting to say today. I'll talk to you later!!

Confession

I have to confess that yesterday I didn't run and I hate 4 Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookies! Eeeek! Let me start at the beginning: I've been having a wicked craving for homemade cookies lately and since I woke up yesterday all I was thinking about was cookies! Well, then about the time I head out to run, my mom calls and since I rarely get to talk to her for more than 10 minutes, I talked to her for 40 minutes. By the time I hung up the phone I was hungry for lunch. I get my sandwich out of the pantry and some evil person brought in Girl Scout cookies. I already had cookies on the brain and now they're right in front of me!! I ate 3 of them before I even thought about it. I have this very tedious Excel project right now and mid-afternoon yesterday I went to CVS and bought a package of cookies and a Diet Dr. Pepper (I don't even drink soda anymore but for me, I can't have real sugar without the artifical stuff). When I got back to work I ate 4 of the cookies and stopped only because I thought I was going to throw up. Why did I feel the need to eat to the point of being sick?? I threw the rest in the trash. Here's the good thing about this episode yesterday...I only went over my calories by 100. I consciously made a decision last night to only eat fish and veggies for dinner. So even though I had a bit of a cookie meltdown, it didn't entirely ruin my day. I was able to rework my dinner a bit so the cookie damage wasn't so bad.

Now for a quick product review: Lean Cuisine's Chicken Ranch Club Flatbread Melt

I had this today for lunch. It was really yummy! I don't eat a lot of frozen meals b/c they aren't always filling and there's tons of sodium in them. This was really good. I want to try the other varieties of the Flatbread Melts now. It tasted like a sandwich that Wendy's used to make on these flatbreads. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about but those flatbread sandwich's from Wendy's were awesome. Anyway, this was good.

Weekend Mish-Mash

So this weekend was good. Got a lot of stuff done and even made it to the gym on Saturday morning. We ran all kinds of errands and did a lot of shopping. I got a new work outfit at the outlet mall which I'm wearing today and we bought a new DVD player. I've had the same DVD player for 5 years now and the last couple of years it's been a bit cranky about playing DVDs (it'll only do it when it wants to) and in order to use the remote, you had to hit a "shift" button before you hit any other button. So we went to Best Buy and they had a Philips DVD player for $40 so Stephen and I split the cost. It's just a basic DVD player, we don't need HD or anything too fancy but already it's sooo much easier to use than the old player. We'll take the old DVD player to Canada for the cabin.

I also cleaned out my closet and my shoes. I do this every few months and I was in a ruthless-getting-rid-of stuff-I-don't-wear mood. Since this mood doesn't strike that often, I went with it and got rid of 4 trash bags full of clothes and 2 bags of shoes. I gave them to Goodwill since they're still good clothes and shoes, I just haven't worn them in a while and can't really see myself wearing them. I have so much more room in my closet now and my shoes are all organized in their drawers...so much easier to find a particular pair. I got so tired of looking in my closet so full of clothes I have a hard time closing it and thinking, "I have nothing to wear."

I didn't get my hair cut this weekend but I'm going to do it soon. I'm waiting until my AWS day (next Friday) and I'm going to make it a total "Marissa" day and get a pedicure and do stuff I want to do. Even though the place I go to only cost $12, it's a Paul Mitchell School salon, it does take longer for the stylist to cut your hair since they're not as experienced as a regular stylist and Stephen gets a little cranky when he has to wait 2 hours for me to get my hair cut. So I'll wait and then I don't have to worry about him going nuts.

Eating was good this weekend. I did go over a bit on Saturday and Sunday but I tend to eat a bit less during the week so it'll balance out. Like I said last week, it's so much easier to make healthy choices when Stephen's making healthy choices. I'm glad we're both finally in this together!! Talk to you later!

The weekend's almost here!

I am so glad it's Friday! I've got a 3 day weekend (again!) because Monday is President's Day! Woo-hoo!! We don't have any big plans for the weekend...just the usual errands, movies, etc. I do think that I'm going to get my hair cut short. I'm so ready for a change. But I may chicken out at the last minute so we'll see. I'm being such a copy cat and printing off a pic of Jen's hair to show the stylist...I just love, love, love Jen's hair!

So something cool happened to me yesterday. I was in the locker room at work showering/getting ready after my run and there was several other ladies in there (there's some yoga/pilates classes here at work which are ridiculously expensive, but I digress). So I'm getting ready, minding my own business and this one woman whose locker is close to mine says, "You must be on an intense training schedule. Every time I'm in here, you're in here. Do you go run or what do you do?" So I tell her that I run at lunch. And she says, "Well you must be very dedicated. You go almost everyday." And I say something about needing to get out of the office and be outside. I thought that was so cool and so encouraging!! Someone I don't even know noticed how much I've been running lately!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

All Over the Place

Sorry my post is late today. I had a meeting this morning during my normal "posting" time. This project has me drowning in Excel spreadsheets. One thing I really, really hate about this job...I'll have no work for months and then when I do get a project, they want everything done yesterday. So I go from zero productivity to super-charged productivity overnight. Very frustrating...I like having a schedule and knowing what I'll be doing from day to day. On that note, found out from my school in NYC that I was waitlisted. So three rejections and two waitlists on my 5 applications. Still a chance I could get in to one of my waitlisted schools but pretty unlikely. Now I'll be looking for another job and taking some classes at night to beef up my resume.

I'm okay with the news now but Tuesday when I found out, it was pretty hard. This week's been a bit emotional for me. My grandpa died in April last year and this weekend they're having the auction for all his farm equipment. I'm not going to Okla for the auction but selling his tractors and tools and all that stuff makes his death even more final. Plus, Valentine's Day was always a special holiday for me. My grandpa would go and pick out cards for all his grandkids and then he would send them to us. The rest of the year, grandma did the card/present thing but Valentine's day was his. (One year she thought she was helping him out and bought a bunch of cards for him and he got upset. He said he always picked out individual cards for his grandkids with messages he thought we could use that year. She ended up taking her cards back and letting grandpa pick out the cards he wanted to send us.) So add that to finding out that I essentially didn't get in anywhere for school (after spending $3000 and oodles of time), and my emotions are shot. The one thing that's helped keep my emotions in check...running. Running is so therapeutic for me. Since my grandpa died there have been so many times when I just start crying when I'm running. Running is a release of my emotions. And it always feels like I start a run with emotional baggage (stress, sadness, disappointment) and end with a smile on my face and no baggage in sight...I've left it somewhere along the miles.

I'm done with my Valentine's Day challenge. A total loss of 3.2 lbs--not as much as I wanted but it's better than keeping that weight or gaining even more. Now I think I'll do a ski trip challenge. We're going skiing at the beginning of April and I want to make sure that I'm in shape and can enjoy the trip as much as possible.

Stephen and I went to see "Fool's Gold" yesterday since we stayed home due to the ice. The movie, as far as plot and characters go, is okay but the scenery is amazing. As we were going home, both of us were saying how we need to take a vacation to a warm, tropical place. I'm done with winter.

P.S. I realize this post is all over the place...that's what happens when I post in the afternoon. My mind is all over and definitely not focused like it is in the morning.

Just a quick one!

Weighed in this morning at 182.8 so my overall loss for my Valentine's Day challenge was 3.2 lbs. Stephen and I are not going to work today...the DC area got hit with some ice last night and it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes to drive from the subway station to our apt (it usually only takes 10 or 15 minutes). Traffic was horrendous last night!! There were some people who were stuck in traffic for 8 hours trying to get home!! Thankfully, that wasn't us. We both work for the government and they've announced that we can be 2 hours late but we both decided we were not taking any chances trying to get to work today. So we're staying home instead. I think we'll see a movie and maybe hit up Costco!

I did get my run in yesterday at lunch and it was awesome! I ran the entire 3.5 miles! And since it wasn't quite as cold, I could look at my HR monitor and my HR is actually right around 80% of my max when I'm running. I'm still going to add some intervals in so that I can gradually speed up my pace.

Stupid cold weather messes up my lunchtime runs!

I cannot wait for the weather to warm up! Yesterday when I went on my lunchtime run, I had such a hard time breathing b/c of the cold air. And my legs felt like they never warmed up. Overall, it was just a crappy run. I ended up walking 1/2 b/c I couldn't breathe. But I did get to use my new heart rate monitor and that was cool. As I was running it continuously gave me my heart rate, which I could only see a couple of times since it was so cold yesterday I was all bundled up. At the end, it told me my average heart rate. I did look at the monitor a couple of times when I was running and found out that even when I'm running, my heart rate is barely above 75% of my maximum heart rate. Guess that means I need to run harder! Maybe I'll start mixing in two days of intervals with my usual steady pace runs. I want to keep up with the steady pace until I can run 5 miles. We might be getting some snow/rain/ice around noon so I'll have to check the weather before I head out today. I hope it's not raining or snowing since I told myself if I run all 5 work days this week, I can get a new top this weekend.

I have other things I want to talk about but I'm leaving early today for a wax so I need to make significant progress on this project so that I don't have to work on it at home tonight. Talk to you ladies later!!

My weekend was fantastic!

I had a great weekend! Friday I was home from work (it was my AWS day) and I had a ton of stuff I wanted to get done. I got most of it done...didn't get to cleaning the apartment or working out but got Stephen's V-day present and 8 loads of laundry done as well as watched "Waitress"--such a sweet movie. Saturday we went looking for new running shoes for me and more workout shorts for Stephen plus a lot of other running around. I found some new shoes which I'm excited to try today! Sunday we did our usual grocery store, movie, getting ready for the week. We saw "There Will Be Blood" yesterday. It's a good movie, Stephen liked it more than me (only b/c the movie is 3 hours long and I had to pee so badly by the end of the movie, I was very uncomfortable). Stephen got an MP3 player yesterday so he spent most of the evening figuring it out. It's the same brand as my MP3 player but the way you load the songs is completely different. I also got a heart rate monitor to wear when I'm running. I've been wanting one so that I can keep track of my heart rate when I'm running outside. I think it will be an excellent motivator for me!

Huge success this weekend as far as eating goes!! I did so great! Friday I didn't do so well (gave into a huge craving for Oatmeal raisin cookies I had all last week) but Saturday and Sunday, I rocked! Honestly, I can't take too much credit for it b/c Stephen has started running/working out again and he's really making an effort to lose the weight he's gained over the last year. Having him make healthy choices really helps me make healthy choices. The weekend was so much easier when there was another person making good choices too! He also wants to start going to the gym on the weekends like we used to do. Yea!! I've got to tell him tonight how much I enjoy us both making healthy choices and working out together.

Alright, got to go work on this project some more. I've set a goal of getting so much done before I can go run and try out my new shoes and my new heart rate monitor. I'm so glad I have something motivating me to get out there today b/c it is coooooold.

The Smiling Runner

Yesterday when I was running I decided to go for a shorter distance but try to run the entire time. Usually what I do is go for 5 miles but I'll alternate running and walking, typically doing 1/2 running and 1/2 walking distance-wise. My goal is to eventually be able to run the entire 5 miles. So I decided yesterday that I would only go for 3.5 miles but try to run the entire time. I ran most of it but still had to have a few walk breaks but I was noticing on the last 1/2 mile of my run I was grinning from ear to ear...I was having so much fun!! It's crazy b/c I fight with myself all the time about running/working out and I needed a day where I remembered how much fun running is for me. I definitely got a dose of endorphins during my run. I love it when it's fun. Makes me so much more motivated to run again today.

I made the homemade ravioli and pesto last night. The pesto was really, really good. I used 1/2 of the recommended amount of olive oil but added a bit of pasta water and you couldn't tell. It was very yummy. The ravioli was just okay. I've seen several times on the food network where a cook/chef uses wonton wrappers to make ravioli so that's what I used. The wrappers were too thin. I'm going to keep looking for other alternatives for the overly-processed ravioli we usually buy. There's got to be something out there.

Anyways, I've got to get working on this project. Didn't get as much done yesterday as I needed to get done and I've got another project to check on this morning as well.

Weigh-In Wednesday Week #5

Beginning Weight: 186.0
Last Week's Weight: 183
This Week's Weight: 183.4
Difference between weeks: +0.4
Total Loss/Gain: -2.6


I'm back up (again!). I was hoping for a loss but knew that with the trip to NYC it would be hard to get. There were just too many meals that were out of my control. And Aunt Flo was visiting town. But I've been back on track since Monday and feeling much better about my food choices as well as getting in my running. I can definitely tell that running burns more calories b/c I'm getting hungry earlier in the mornings. Usually I wait until I get to work when I eat, simply b/c I'm not hungry earlier but this morning I was hungry first thing when I woke up! So I went ahead and had half of a bagel and then had my oatmeal when I got to work. I've noticed that when I eat oatmeal for breakfast, I don't really need my mid-morning snack. If I'm going to run, I'll usually go ahead and have some fruit for quick energy but that's nothing compared to the yogurt/fruit/granola combo I used to have for a snack.

So, back to my original point, only one week left on my Valentine's Day challenge. I want a 1.5 lb loss this week so I'll end the challenge at 182. I'm working hard to get there. Here's what my week looks like exercise/eating wise:
Wednesday: 1600 calories, run at lunch (hopefully...there's storms moving in but maybe I can beat them)
Thursday: 1600 calories, run at lunch
Friday: 1800 calories, workout in apt complex gym, AWS day--no work
Saturday: 2000 calories, possibly the gym? or maybe rest?
Sunday: 2000 calories
Monday: 1600 calories, run at lunch
Tuesday: 1600 calories, run at lunch
I'll still have some extra calories left for the week (about 400) but I'm sure I'll find a way to use them! ;)

I've been trying some new recipes for dinner this week (Lemon Pork Chops with Pine Nuts and Chicken Cacciatore) but neither were outstanding. But I'm super excited for tonight! I'm making homemade ravioli with homemade pesto! We usually keep a couple of packages of refrigerated tortellini or ravioli on hand for quick meals but those are so high-caloric and they're very processed. We also love the jarred pesto sauce (same kind that Lynn tried recently) but it's also fairly high calories. So I decided to try to make my own ravioli and pesto. I'm using wonton wrappers for the ravioli (they'll be filled with tomatoes and mushrooms) and making my own pesto, in my mini food processor I got for Christmas, using a little less than usual amount of oil to cut down on the calories. I'll definitely let you know how it goes!

Alright, well I have a project to work on which is going to be super boring. Can you tell I'm procrastinating by writing a super-long post?

Rambling on a Tuesday Morning

I got to go on my run yesterday!! I ended up walking most of it since I hadn't run in a week but today I'm going again (for a longer distance) and I'm planning on running most of it. I can't wait! I'm glad I cancelled my gym membership...I really started dreading going and I enjoy being outside so much. Granted when it's raining I don't have anywhere to go (although the apt complex has a gym but going after work is soooo much harder for me).

Hmmm, let's see...what else to talk about? I'll talk about something completely not weight loss related. I think I want to cut my hair short. I had a couple of inches cut off my hair a couple of weeks ago...mainly b/c my hair hadn't had a hair cut in about 3 months so there were all kinds of yucky dead ends but also b/c my hair was just getting too long and making me look like I was 16. But now that I've cut a couple of inches off, I'm thinking about cutting more. Both Jen and Amy got their hair cut short and it looks so adorable. The one problem with cutting my hair short is that it's thick so they either have to thin it out or it tends to look poofy. I think what I'll do is wait until I find out about my one remaining school and if I get in, I'll cut it. I'm definitely going to want hair that's more manageable when I go to school and makes me look more professional. But I'll probably cut it even if I don't get in. I'm so happy--I found a place where I can get my hair cut for $12! It's the Paul Mitchell school's salon. I've been paying $60 at a regular salon and most that I have been to do a bad job cutting my hair. I'm due for another haircut at the end of February so I'm thinking I may cut it short. Wow, that's a lot of rambling about my hair. But just some thoughts I had this morning.

Alright, talk to later gators!

New York State of Mind

Hey everyone! It's good to be back...I've missed you all. New York was a lot of fun. My interview went really well. At the school I was interviewing with, the interviewer actually reviews your application before the interview so the person I interviewed with had already read my essays and studied my resume. It made the interview sooo much better!! With my other interviews I had to spend 5 minutes explaining what I do in my current job but with this interview, she already knew and it gave her more time to ask more detailed questions. According to the current students I spoke with at the conference, this school interviews such a small number of people that if you're interviewed, you're pretty much in unless you really bomb your interview. So I'm optimistic that I'll get admitted but I'm still being guarded and continuing to plan for the possibility that I don't get in. Could find out anytime but I will definitely know within 3 weeks.

We had a great time sightseeing. We went to the top of the Empire State Building and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I loved the Met...I took several art history classes in college so it was awesome to see the paintings I studied. We got back to DC Saturday evening and spent yesterday doing the grocery store and cooking thing. We also watched part of the Super Bowl...is it just me or have the Super Bowl commercials gotten worse?? There was only one or two that I thought was remotely funny or good.

While we were in NYC we got in lots of walking. I estimated calories while we were there and I was over most days but it's hard when you're traveling and not in your routine. Plus the two days I was at the school, lunches were provided so I couldn't really opt to not eat the meal. But we did quite a bit of walking so it all evens out and I'm back to my schedule this week. I was looking forward to running today at lunch but it's raining (again) so I'm hoping it clears off for a bit so I can get outside!