Boot Camp Week 2

I started my second week of the morning boot camp today. I actually look forward to going each day and was a little sad over the weekend that I had to wait until Monday to go again. I hope this feeling lasts although I am sure it's only some kind of honeymoon period. I turned in my paperwork signing up for six months, so I better stick with it or it is just money wasted. I pushed myself harder today now that I have an idea of what is involved each day. My goal last week was just to get through each workout. This week I really want to push myself.

Weight Watchers - Week # 1

I went back to Weight Watchers last Saturday. I have been off and on WW for years. Two times I got to my all time lowest weight on the program. The first time was when I first joined about 8 years ago when I lost 27 pounds in six months and was extremely strict and followed the program always…even on vacations and during the holidays. But…I gained back some of the weight and teetered up and down for a few years before getting back down to the same number for my wedding. I came back from my honeymoon five pounds heavier and teetered between five and ten pounds heavier for the next year and a half. Then my life seemingly got turned upside down by moving across the country to Virginia. Since we moved here four years ago, I have barely exercised and my diet has been awful because I eat out so much. I have been going on and off Weight Watchers and gaining and losing the same ten pounds over and over again. When I weighed in last Saturday I was sixteen pounds heavier than my lowest and eleven pounds higher than when we moved to Virginia. So here I am starting again. I will be posting my progress each week hoping to help me stick with it. I know WW works when I go to the meetings and stick with the plan, but I easily gain the weight back when I go off plan…"off the wagon" as I call it. My goal is to lose on average one pound per week. I know some weeks may be higher and some may be lower, but overall my goal is to lose the sixteen pounds by October 4th.

First week results...I did not actually stay within my points for the week, but I still managed to lose 1.4 pounds. I also started the morning boot camp workout program this week, so that probably helped.

Week 1 = -1.4
Total = -1.4

Happy Gay Pride Weekend!!!

Wordless Wednesday - A Girl Can Dream

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I'm Not a Morning Person, But...

My latest attempt at an exercise routine is a 6am women's only boot camp type program. I signed up for a one week trial to see how I like it and if I'm able to get myself out of bed on time. So far so good! I have been for two days now and I like it. It is hard getting up at 5:30, but once I'm out of the house I'm fine. I have been very sleepy at work though since I haven't been getting to bed early enough. This is a different environment than my try at kickboxing a few months ago when Master W yelled in my face the entire time. The trainers at this place are nice, helpful and encouraging, but still push me. Unless something goes horribly wrong later this week, I plan on signing up for a month to see if I can stick with it. It's a great feeling to be done with a work out by 7am.

Where Did Everybody Go?

Today has been a weird day around town. Everywhere we went was empty. The lunch place we went to only had 1 other couple in it. We went to dinner at about 7pm to a place that usually has a packed bar and restaurant and it wasn't busy at all. Then we went to the grocery store to get dessert and it was empty. Then we went for a walk and didn't cross one other person on the path. Where did everybody go? It's been very odd. My only guess is that since it is the first weekend of summer that lots of people have gone out of town?

Some of the people we did see today that stood out:
- A woman that appeared to be for hire in the strip mall. I live in a cookie cutter upper middle class suburban neighborhood where you don't normally see this kind of thing. I couldn't come up with any other reason for why she was there dressed like she was acting like she was.
- An older man using his cane to push the crosswalk button to cross the street. I wish I could have gotten a picture of this.
- A teenage girl dressed in a neon yellow dress and neon pink & green striped socks. I really hope she was on her way to an 80's party. She also had on bright a pink glove...once I saw that, I was pretty sure there was a reason for this outfit. She also seemed embarrassed by us seeing her.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring...

My Cat is Addicted to Plastic

My cat Minky has a thing for plastic. He loves to chew on it, lick it, and sometimes he even tries to eat it. He even knows when plastic is inside something else and he'll try to get at it. He has been out of control today with it. I take one thing away from him and he finds another! All of this while I was painting and trying to keep him and his brother out of the paint.

Here he is with new bathroom fixtures that are covered in plastic.

Thursday Thirteen - If I Won the Lottery

Here are thirteen things I would do if I won the lottery. A big lottery!

1. Scream and maybe cry

2. Get my phone number unlisted

3. Set up a high interest account for the money to be deposited into

4. Quit my job

5. Sell my house

6. Move back to California and buy a house either on the ocean or with a view of the ocean

7. Spend more time with my dad (he lives in CA)

8. Pay off my brother's mortgage

9. Have a huge party in Vegas with all my friends

10. Take an extended vacation, probably to Australia

11. Buy an impractical car

12. Do some volunteer work

13. Relax and enjoy life

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Wordless Wednesday - Cat & Mouse

Note: I did not take this picture.

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Summer Vacation

School is out in my neighborhood and the kids are on summer vacation. I really miss the days of having a summer vacation. I have been working for 12 years now and look forward to my two or three weeks of vacation spread out throughout the year. My summer vacations as a kid were great. My mom stayed home until I was about 10, then when she went back to work my brothers were old enough to watch me so I did not have to go to any camps or programs like many kids do today who have working parents. I also spent a lot of time at my best friend's house. Sometimes I would stay at her house for 2 or 3 days at a time without coming home. Her mom was home and they had a pool so most of the summers were spent outside in the pool or playing in the yard. I rarely wore shoes in the summer and after an early summer sunburn I would be tan the rest of the summer. My friend's sister was eight years older than us and was always by the pool tanning. She is also the person who taught me to swim. My mom took me to swim lessons when I was 5 years old, but I was too scared of the large Hawaiian man who was the instructor. My friend's sister taught me in just a couple days. I was always bored though by the end of the summer and ready to go back to school. I think I mostly wanted school to start so I could get some new clothes and school supplies because after one day back at school I wanted to be back on summer vacation. I would love to have three months off now, but that is just not possible. I know kids don't realize how good they have it and that is part of being a kid.

I Want Tomatoes!

I really wish this tomato salmonella scare would come to an end. I love tomatoes and really miss them in my food. I eat most of my meals out lately and most restaurants and fast food places are not serving any tomatoes. I used to eat a sliced tomato every night with my dinner and when I was a kid, my mom would quarter a tomato, sprinkle a little salt on it and put it in a baggie for my snack at school. Maybe I should go to the grocery store and buy the tomatoes on the vine and start bringing them with me places, but that would seem a little weird I think. I don't want people to get sick, but I want tomatoes back!

Bringing Down the House

I am currently reading the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich about the MIT students who took Vegas for millions by counting cards. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love Vegas and gambling so it is the perfect book for me. It talks about blackjack strategy and a little about the history of Vegas as well. I wish I were smart enough to pull something like this off. I do not know if I would actually do it or not, but I wish I had the mathematical mind to do it. The book reads like and action film so I'm moving through it pretty quickly, but do not want it to end!

Unbelievable!

I was at lunch today with a friend and there was a woman at the booth across from us with a baby in a high chair. About half way through lunch the baby started crying and we looked over to see that the mom was not there! Our waitress saw this at the same time and sat down with the baby to try to calm him down. The three of us were just staring at each other in amazement that the mother was not there. We did not say it out loud, but we were all wondering...is she going to come back? After a couple minutes, which seemed like hours, the mother came back. She said he had been sleeping...uh, no he wasn't.

Thursday Thirteen - To Do List

Here are thirteen projects I have been thinking about doing for a while.

1. Open a pet bakery business. I have been toying with names and making test products, but that is it so far. Right now I'm thinking the name will be Pet Paradise Bakery...thoughts? All the other names I could think of already had the domain names taken.

2. Paint the basement. I put samples colors all over one of the walls, so I have to paint it as some point now.

3. Organize paperwork. I have huge stacks of bills, receipts, etc that need to be either filed, shredded or thrown away.

4. Update my home inventory list for insurance purposes.

5. Create a home emergency kit. A recent power outage and severe weather made me realize how unprepared we are.

6. Clean up the bookcases in the office. I started reading books again about 2 years ago and now the bookcases are overflowing.

7. Buy furniture for the living room and family room. The furniture we have is old and uncomfortable.

8. Organize my recipes in either in Master Cook or some sort of filing system so I can find recipes when I need them instead of sifting through the stacks of paperwork they get thrown in with (see # 3).

9. Clean out my closet. There is a bunch of stuff I have not worn for years.

10. Print pictures for my photo albums. All my pictures are digital now so they mostly live on the computer, but I still love looking through photo albums and I am a couple years behind in getting pictures printed.

11. Finish writing my vacation trip report. We got back a few weeks ago and I am still writing it. I will probably forget everything by the time I am done with it.

12. Plant flowers. This one is partially done. I have planted some in pots, but still need to do the beds.

13. Paint the porch. I finished this one last weekend! It was broiling hot, but I finally got it done...just wanted to be able to say I have accomplished something.

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Wordless Wednesday - Severe Weather

We had extremely severe weather here this last week and it reminded me of the tornado that came through here just a couple months after I moved to Virginia. These pictures were taken from my office building.

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Wordless Wednesday - Ayers Rock

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I Need a Name!

I really need help coming up with a name for my pet bakery business. The domain names are not available for all my ideas. If anyone has an idea, please let me know! It will be focused on gourmet dog treats. Thanks!

A Triathlon and a Power Outage

What a morning! I was woken up early this morning by a whistle and people cheering. I looked to see what time it was and the clock was not working. Turns out there was a "widespread" power outage so I found my travel clock and it told me it was 7:30am...way too early for me to be awake on a Sunday. The cheering and whistles continued and we tried to guess what it was from. There is a park about a quarter mile away that has soccer games, but it was way to early for that and it sounded like the cheering was in our back yard. Turns out it almost was. Our house backs to a street and there was a triathlon on it this morning so a bunch of people were out there cheering on the athletes. That's great and all, but they woke me up so I was not happy. The whistle was from a police officer directing traffic so the bikers could get through the intersection. I decided to go watch with them, but I got bored after a few minutes and went back inside. I was just hoping the electricity would come on soon enough for me to be able to take a shower and dry my hair since I had plans to meet friends at 11:30 to see Sex and the City. Luckily the power came on at 10am so it all turned out ok...and Sex and the City was great!