TGIF, all you working stiffs. I am actually coming close to the point where I can write this freaking story and not have it hanging over my head like so many rain clouds. Yay! I'll be working on the story some of the weekend and most of Monday, though, so that's not good. *sniff*
Last night we went over to Mark's friend's house for dinner. He had been talking up their neighborhood to me for literal WEEKS and how nice it was, how they had a backyard, etc...Well, we drive up and the neighborhood is a total dump. Yuck, horrible. Right across the street there was this huge old rusted 1970s Cutlass or something in someone's driveway. Little poor kids were roaming the streets. And the house was a dump too. It had these ugly dark-brown miniblinds and an ugly brown-and-brass ceiling fan...the fireplace was tiled, it was pretty cool, but everything else sucked. It didn't help that this couple had no decorating sense whatsoever and had these cheap Wal-Mart bookcases in the living room filled with junk...they had a Bart Simpson cereal box on the shelf. I kid you not. And this friend's fiance had stuck little paper cutouts of flowers on the kitchen cabinets. Very chintzy.
I hate to be so critical, but I would be severely depressed if I had to live in that house. I'm more into the shabby-chic, WHITE and airy kind of style. Their place looked like a rec room, circa 1975.
Mark wants to move to the north side of town next year when our lease runs out, and I am SO not looking forward to it. Right now, we live near West Lake Hills, a very ritzy little village just south of downtown. I love it. They have the best shops, restaurants, the mall is nearby...but alas, it'll all be gone next year. Wah.
On the food and diet side of things, we ate lasagna last night, made by Mark's friend's fiancee. It was BAD. I had to tear apart the top layer of lasagna noodles with my fingers because it was so tough. The pasta wasn't quite boiled enough, so the edges literally crunched when I bit them. And someone brought a really good cool-whip and angel food cake thing for dessert, but I stopped eating it when it was revealed that the dish contained cream cheese. Cream cheese bad, very bad.
And before the whole dinner thing, I exercised for 40 minutes at the gym. I haven't done any ab work in like five days. I better get on the floor of my office and get busy.
P.S.: I took my first calcium supplement last night. I'm not sure I can do it again. It tastes like a GNC smells.
Busy busy busy. I've got a hell of a lot of interviewing to do if I want to work from home tomorrow, writing. Talk about rushed.
Last night I wasn't feeling well, so I went 25 minutes on the treadmill and left. It was kind of a holdover from yesterday afternoon, when I felt like I might puke. I think I had too much coffee and caffeine. I drank a whole big Diet Coke and then had some majorly strong java from Starbucks. Mental note: Get a latte next time - made with skim milk.
Tonight Mark and I are going to his friend's house for dinner. We were supposed to go Tuesday, but an impromptu awards dinner that required the presence of the host popped up. Mark wants me to buy and prepare garlic bread before we go over there. It's like he doesn't know how to darken the doorway of a grocery store and buy 2 loaves of French bread. Jeez.
I'm going to try to pop into the gym during the day today to make up for last night. I was going to take today off b/c of the dinner, but whatever.
Yay! I just found out that I'm going to get to stay at this kick-ass resort in Lajitas, TX, instead of a sucky motel next week. You see, I'm going out to West Texas for work, and I was going to stay at some out-of-the-way place in Terlingua, but now I get to stay at a nicer hotel, where the conference actually is. A spot opened up and I jumped on it. They have massage therapists, a spa, a restaurant...yay. I was seriously considering not going, but now I'm actually looking forward to it.
Eats:
1 bag pretzels, 150 cals; 1 ham sandwich w/mustard and mayo, 350 cals; 1 apple, 75 calories
Another day, another dollar. Things are cool and beautiful here in Texas; meanwhile, Hurricane Isidore is moving in on the Gulf Coast, not too far away from my family in the Mobile, AL area. My parents thought they were going to move into a motel in Montgomery for the duration of the storm, but as it turns out, the hurricane is breaking up and there's no real danger to them (though they WILL be on the rough eastern side of it all).
Last night I did the standard 40 mins of cardio exercises, plus some lower-body strength training. I'm really feeling better about myself these days, though I haven't lost tons of weight. I LOOK thinner and FEEL tighter, and that's all that matters. I may never get to 115, or it may take months to get there. But this isn't a race, and it isn't a contest, especially since Mark hasn't been to the gym in ages. I'll lose weight at a pace that's right for me. I might not be a 2-pound-a-week kind of gal. Let's see, I've been working out regularly since about mid-July, so it's been about 2 months. That averages to 2.5 pounds a month lost, or 0.6 pounds a week. It's OK. I still get to eat MOST of the things I want, with room for some treats, so I don't feel deprived at all. I can come home from the gym and eat a bowl of Hamburger Helper, like I did last night. Most fitness articles and websites say I'm supposed to be eating about 1800 calories a day anyway (with my workouts, I'm 'high-activity'), so I don't feel bad about it.
However, I DO need to start incorporating more fruits & vegetables in my diet. Right now, I'm heavy on the starches and meats, low on non-processed stuff. Except for a handful of grapes last night, my fruit & veggie intake was nada on Tuesday. That's really bad - not only for weight loss, but for health and stuff too. Fruits & veggies can help keep you from getting cancer and other nasty diseases, so I better straighten up before that becomes a real concern. I brought an apple to eat with lunch today, and we'll be having taco salad with lettuce, tomato and avocado tonight, so that should be better.
Eats:
(8/24): 1 Hot Pocket, 320 cals; Dinner - 1 bowl Hamburger Helper, 450 cals; Snack - 20 black grapes, about 15 cals
Whew. Just returned from a busy morning of doctor's appointments. First was the visit to the ophthalmologist to see exactly why it hurts like hell to put a contact in my right eye. He put some yellow stuff in the eye, blinded me with a light and told me that maybe my contacts were too tight. I'm supposed to call him back with the measurements of my lenses and we will go from there. I'm suspicious of this place though. When I made the appt. I told them why I was coming in. When I got here today they started doing one of those vision tests on me ('Which is better, A or B?), like I was coming for new glasses or something. I quickly set the girl straight. Don't need them trying to charge a vision exam to my medical insurance (which does not cover glasses).
Then, after a pit stop at home, it was on to the neurologist's office to get refills for my meds and stuff. She was really nice, kinda young, did all these weird things like making me stand in the middle of a room with my arms out and eyes closed while she pushed me. (Really.) Then she gave me a refill on my prescription and told me to start taking this prescription strength folic acid, as well as calcium. So every night I have to take: 1. Tegretol, 2. Vitamin E, 3. Folic Acid, 4. Calcium, and sometimes 5. Iron. A veritable drug cocktail. I feel like a terminal case or something. (Sorry, that's not funny!)
The doctor's scale said I weighed 135, which was a real let-down since the gym scale had been saying 131.5 for the last few days. I'm choosing to believe the lower number. Hey, if delusion will keep me going on this thing, so much the better!
Last night I worked out for 40 mins on the treadmill, came home and ate a BAD, BAD breakfast-dinner: eggs, bacon, pancakes, strawberries. But I'd only eaten 2 nutrigrain bars and a tiny Weight Watchers Smartwich all day, so I didn't feel too bad.
Today I can't work out because Mark and I are going to his friend's house for dinner. Oh well. Guess I'll have to make it up on Friday. Wahh.
Eats:
1 Burger King bacon, egg & cheese Croissanwich, about 450 cals (guessing; they didn't list this on the web site)
Ah, the end of the weekend. Actually, today's the beginning of the workweek. But never mind. This weekend was OK. Mark and I didn't do a lot - I went with my aunt to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. EVERYONE has been talking about it, so we figured we'd check it out. It was pretty funny - a really cute romantic comedy. The only problem I had with it was the fact that it might be stereotyping Greek Americans. (FYI, I am NOT Greek in any way.) But still, go check it out.John Corbett is SO cute! He looks tons better than he did in SATC.
After that, the same night Mark brought 2 friends over and we all watched Training Day. If you're into watching crooked cops and watching people get shot, then by all means rent this. I wouldn't see it again, but it was good to see the movie that got Denzel his second Oscar. He did give a stellar performance, and I'm glad they gave Best Actor to him instead of Russell Crowe - he's such a prick.
On the fitness side of things, I did go to the gym on Friday and Sunday after not going on Thursday because of the SPJ meeting. I think I am actually starting to see results, if not on the scale then in clothes and stuff. I FEEL thinner. I feel good, instead of feeling like a slug. Plus, when I stepped on the scale at the gym it read 131.5. I hadn't stepped on that scale for about 1 1/2 weeks and the last time it read 134.5, so that was nice. But I am suspicious of this scale. According to this scale, my weight has jumped around something fierce, and I don't think that's true. I haven't been yo-yoing. Which makes me think that maybe people are messing with the scale - calibrating it or whatever - and that's causing the numbers to go up and down. I will check out my weight today and Tuesday. If it still reads 131.5 after that, then I will change my template to read that under "current weight."
Eats:
2 Nutri-Grain yogurt bars, 240 cals.; Diet Coke, no cals
Name: Jen Location: DFW, TX Occupation: Journalist WHY this stupid blog?: To lose the 20 pounds I've packed on since high school and to entertain you with stories about my fabulous life. Current Weight: 138 My Goal Weight: 115 Pounds to Go: 23
