Christmas Pictures

This is one of our Christmas pictures that we finally took this weekend. And here's a pic of just the tree.

Weekend Wrap-up and A Weight Watchers Question

Hmmm...well I'll start with the confession: my weekend wasn't good, food wise. Between Saturday and Sunday, I drank nearly three bottles of wine! Yes, I know, 3 bottles! I do love the wine (but I am not an alcoholic before you get too concerned). Last night I had a couple of glasses and actually didn't want any more but my head said, "you should have some now, you won't get any more for another 6 days." So, I think next weekend I'll put a limit on how much wine I can have and that way I'll truly enjoy it. I'm still going to follow my no alcohol during the week rule as that seems to be working out very well for me. I also made Christmas cookies last night for our Christmas party at work this week and I am very guilty of eating several balls of dough and some finished cookies. My explanation for my behavior this weekend is something I told myself mentally on Friday. In the midst of my crankiness and blah-ness on Friday, I acquired this "screw it" approach to the weekend and I don't know where it came from but suspect it has to do with my bad mood and wanting food to make me feel better.

So, here's my WW question: does anyone do WW online? I'm interested in WW (and have done it before with success) but actually making it to a meeting would be difficult. If you do use WW online I would like to know how you like it and what differences there are between WW online and WW in person. I'm just very curious about it. Counting calories works for me but there's no accountability to myself. With WW there would be more of an accountability.

Now onto this week's goals:
Eating--1600 calories/M-F; 2000 calories/Sat & Sun (only 200 calories each day may be used for alcohol)
Work Outs--I am getting back to my strength training schedule! So here's the plan:
Monday: 75-90 minutes cardio, 20 minutes strength, 10 minutes stretching
Tuesday: 75-90 minutes cardio, 20 minutes strength, 10 minutes stretching
Wednesday: 75-90 minutes cardio, 10 minutes stretching
Thursday: 75-90 minutes cardio, 20 minutes strength, 10 minutes stretching
Friday: 60 minutes cardio, 10 minutes stretching
Weekend: 120 minutes of walking (Christmas shopping!), cleaning, playing at park
Total: 480-540 minutes cardio, 60 minutes strength, 50 minutes stretching
I'm also going to look into the classes at my gym. I know they have yoga and I love yoga!

Well, I'm off to go raid the office supply closet at work...rumor is we got a new shipment of supplies! I heart office supplies!

Friday Randomness

Lots of things I want to talk about today. Not sure I'll have the time but I'll get started and see how far I get.

So, yesterday was a snow day. I picked up my vehicle at the auto body shop where it's been for the last week getting repaired from my wreck. It was finally finished and since there was ice and snow on the ground, I felt more comfortable driving my big SUV than S's little car. So we pick it up and then had some errands to run. (S got his brother's Christmas present and we went to see "August Rush"...such a good movie!) Well, somehow when they put the door back on my vehicle, they didn't hook up the power lock/unlock so we took my vehicle back to the repair shop. It only took them about 30 minutes and they did it while we were waiting so it wasn't too bad but just a little frustrating.

My sister called last night and she invited me to go with her and my mom to Hawaii in January! My mom has a conference in Hawaii every January and usually my stepdad goes with her, but this year the heater died at their house and since that's going to cost them about $10,000 to redo the entire heating system, they decided that he wouldn't go. So my sister decided to go with my mom since she's never been to Hawaii and since her hubby hasn't gotten her a Christmas present yet, her plane ticket to Hawaii is now her gift! I really want to go and it would be a ton of fun, just me, my mom and sis hanging out in Hawaii for 4 or 5 days. I thought about it and ultimately decided not to go. I've made a commitment to paying off some of my debt before I go back to grad school and as much as I would love to go to Hawaii, doing so would be putting myself even further away from my financial goals.

So, on to the topic of losing weight...I did really well yesterday (even though it was a snow day and felt like a Saturday) and stayed within my calories. I've been doing well eating wise and I'll continue that this weekend. Working out, I haven't been doing so well. I went Monday and Tuesday and then the snow actually did deter me from working out on Wednesday. I won't go today since I'm leaving work early as S and I have tickets to an event tonight. I need to get back to my strength training, I've been doing cardio only for the last couple of weeks, but strength training builds muscles and muscles burn more calories!

No real plans this weekend besides the Christmas event tonight so we'll see what we end up doing. I don't know if it's the weather, TOM, or what, but I feel so blah today. I'm not really excited about anything and I'd like to just lay at home in my warm bed. Well, I'll see you all on Monday...have a good weekend!

Snow Day!

I'll be back tomorrow with a real post and comments but we got about 3 inches of snow yesterday (I know that's not a lot for you Canadians but for DC, it's a lot) so we got a snow day!! I'll see you all tomorrow!

Wednesday Weigh-In

I am all about the alliteration in my post titles the last couple days. Anyways, so I lost 1 pound! I'm excited! Actually, a little disappointed that it wasn't more but I need to focus on the positive...I lost weight instead of gaining or maintaining. And, although I did well eating during the week, my weekend eating wasn't so good but on Monday I outlined what I need to do better during the weekend so I feel confident going into this weekend that I will do better!

Well, in other news, it's snowing here in DC! We might get up to 3 inches of snow but most weatherpeople are predicting closer to 1 inch. I heart snow! I don't like ice or sleet, but I love snow! I will NOT let this deter me from hitting the gym at lunch though! I repeat, I will NOT let this keep me from the gym at lunch! I am making this statement so you all will hold me accountable.

We have a bagel breakfast here at work in a few minutes. Our bureau does this every 3 or 4 months. They have bagels, donuts, coffee, and juice and it's basically a time for everyone to mix and mingle and catch up with what everyone in the bureau is doing. I think it really helps the top directors of the bureau. Since the top 10 or 15 people in my bureau work in a different building a few miles away, they don't always know what's going on over in my building. Anyways, it's kind of a nice tradition. In the past, I would say that I wasn't going to have a bagel but everytime I would cave and get a bagel (usually after I'd already eaten part of my breakfast and thereby putting me over on calories for the day). So I decided yesterday that I would change my usual breakfast menu to accomodate a bagel. Usually, I have oatmeal and an apple when I get to work (around 8:30) and then have a yogurt and a banana around 10:30. But today I had a yogurt when I got to work and then in a few minutes, I'll have a bagel at the bagel breakfast. So it works out b/c I know I get to have a bagel plus I still got some healthy protein and calcium in with my yogurt. Last Thursday I thought about getting a bagel as I was walking to work and then I thought, "No, I'm not going to pay for a bagel. I'll get to have a free one next week at the bagel breakfast and I'll be looking forward to it." And even though I love coffee, I will not have any of the coffee they serve at the bagel breakfast...it's atrocious!! Yech!!

Well, time to go get my much anticipated bagel! Later gator!

Tuesday Thoughts

So yesterday at lunch I decided that instead of going to the gym, I was going to run outside which is something I haven't done in a few weeks and I was really craving some sunshine and fresh air. Sounds like a fantastic decision right? It was actually a horrible, horrible decision. I forgot that DC was under a wind advisory with winds of 50 MPH expected. At times, I was running but I wasn't actually going anywhere, the wind was that strong! It was definitely a great workout though. When I got back to the locker room, my arms and legs were shaking! It was crazy. We have another wind advisory today so I'm hitting the gym!

When I got off the subway this morning in downtown DC, it was snowing! Not heavy snow or snow that's actually going to stick around but just these flakes falling from the sky. I love it when it snows! I love snowglobes so when it's snowing outside, I feel like I'm walking in a snowglobe, it's so cool!!

Tomorrow's my weigh-in and I'm actually looking forward to it. I've worked hard over the last week and I'm ready to see some results from the scale. I'm hitting the gym hard today and doing a last chance workout...I'm pumped!

Weekend Wrap Up

The weekend went really well!! Our plans changed, as they always do, and we didn't go ice skating on Saturday. The weather got pretty cold on Friday night and since it's really the first cold weather we've had all year, we just stayed home on Saturday. Yesterday we saw "Fred Claus"--we both thought it was a good movie. It's predictable, as all Christmas movies are, but it was good. Saturday I made a huge pot of homemade chicken noodle soup for S and I to have for lunches this week since the weather's supposed to be cold this week. So, due to the change in plans, I only got 60 minutes of activity in this weekend. Food wise, I did really well Friday until S wanted me to make oatmeal cookies. Instead of trying to talk him out of it, I made cookies. I had two cookies which didn't do too much damage to my calories for Friday since I was actually under for the day's total. Saturday and Sunday...I didn't do so well. Most of my mistakes were mindless eating. I would get bored, so I would eat or the basket of bread is in front of me, might as well have 3 pieces. Things like that.

So, some goals for the week ahead:
* Eating during the week--did very well last week. Keep it up this week! No alcohol on the weekdays really helps.
* Eating during the weekend--watch the mindless eating. Stop and ask myself, do I really want this or am I just bored or eating just because it's there. Don't know for sure all of our plans for this weekend.
* Activity--did pretty good last week. Didn't get in as much exercise as I had hoped but this week my goal is 450 minutes total.

All in all, I did well last week and I feel so much better physically and mentally. I'm going to rock this week again!!

So, for something not eating/exercise related, my financial situation is pretty tight lately. Again, it's all choices I made and I'm having to live with the consequences. I just got paid on Friday and already it seems like I have no money. I have money in my account but I have to pick up my truck from the shop this week and it's going to be expensive. They can hang on to my vehicle for 5 days after they finish the work and then after that, they start charging $50/day to have it there. Part of my problem is that my paycheck on Friday should have been several hundred dollars more than it was. I recently got a promotion and this paycheck should have been the first paycheck where I was making my new salary. But, as things go, the paperwork didn't get in on time and so it'll be my next paycheck before I see the new salary. I'm looking into getting one of those payday advance loans. I've never had to do it before. I think it's really my only option. My only other hope is if it takes the shop until sometime later this week to finish my vehicle. In which case, the free 5 days will be up close enough to my paycheck that I can afford to pay for it. My plan is to wait until they call and tell me my truck is done at the shop. If it's early this week when they call, then I'll get a payday advance loan and go pick it up. If it's late this week when they call, I might still have to get the payday advance loan but maybe not. It's totally my fault that I'm in this situation. I'm just really ticked at myself about it b/c I didn't follow my budget in November and now look at where I am. In December, I'm following my budget. I shouldn't be hoping that it takes the shop longer than anticipated to finish my truck. Oh well, live and learn, huh?

Alright, well, time for me to get some other things done today. Later gator!