Grateful for stuff!

Hiya, kids!

Welcome to the final Grateful post for May.  Side note:  I can't believe it's June tomorrow!  Where the H did this month go?!  I'm fairly certain that it got blown away with all this bloody wind.  I thought it was May, not March, man!

• I'll start with crossing a little something off my bucket list.  That little something being going to Gasthof's!!!!  I've wanted to go there since, you know, I was 21.  I've just never gone.  Thinking about it now, that's friggin' ridiculous.  I decided that I wanted to pitch a tent right then and there and live there.  Some day, I need to live in Bavaria, baby.
• Next, I'll give props to Mr. Sunshine.  Not the junky show starring my favorite Friend, but the warming ball of gas in the sky.  The last couple of weeks have tottered between being junk and being glorious.  Much like today.  It was beautiful for a while there, and now it's total ass out there.  Back to the sunshine.  I love that I've gotten not only my first but my SECOND sunburn of the year this weekend!!!!!  Bring on the melanoma!  (sidenote:  JOKE)  There's just something I adore about that sun kids.  Maybe I'll check out the Vitamin D like my friend Megs did.  Maybe my obsession with the sun and warmth in the warm months, and my moody blues in the colder months have something to do with that?  Who knows.  For now though, I'm going to just going to try to soak up as much of it as I can.  Also, I'll start using sunblock, I promise.  Burns are dumb.
• Gardening!  HELL of a workout.  I'm still a sore mutha from Saturday and Monday's gardening shenanigans.  (sidenote:  TOTALLY worth it!  My babies are all planted!).
• Related:  The crazy stuff you can find at garden stores!  I went to one out here in the boonies, and I found some awesome stuff!  From an 8-foot, $700 metal giraffe to a 6" banana plant to about 20 kinds of tomatoes.  My current favorite thing that I found at said garden store is a CURRY PLANT!!!  I'm so freaking stoked.  I was poking around in the herbs, looking for rosemary (found it!) and grabbed what I thought was rosemary.  NOPE.  It was stinkin' curry!  I love herbs because you just rub those leaves and you can smell it for hours.  I was salivating for Indian for the rest of the day - despite all the dirt and soap from gardening and washing it off.  I could smell that curry all afternoon, and I loved it.
• The Amazon MP3 store.  I love using one of those song "hearing" apps and then finding it on the Amazon store.  It's soooo convenient.  Which my little bank account is saying "PUMP THE BRAKES" to, but meh.  I love music, and I love that I can download it from the application to my phone.  Read also:  all the way to my computer.  Woo!
• My cooky hubby.  That guy just knows what he's doing with food.  Oh, PS - that's "cook-y" as in, he likes to cook.  Not a typo of "kooky."  ha.  He has totally pulled off smoking lately - he's a kick ass dude.  However, all that delicious meat isn't so good for the waistline, you know?  His amazing food is helping me practice portion control like very few things before it has.  :)  Yet another thing about that guy that's pretty cool.

Okie dokie!  That's what I've got for this week.

Oh, also?  I'm .4 lbs away from emerging on the other side of another "10."  WHAT UPPPPPPP!?

Number two:  I CANNOT find a swim suit!!!!  I need something that's not a halter, and isn't a million dollars.  I've tried roughly 15, and I just can't find a single one that I like.  UGH.

Happy Friday!!

Yes, my life is that interesting - I'm blogging on a Friday night.  Did I mention that I have not one, but two cats sitting next to me?  How am I married?!  :)

Anyway.  To The Reason of the post.

I need to work on meal planning.  REALLY need to work on meal planning.  I just suck at it.  I know that it's something that I really need to do to give myself absolutely no excuses for not eating well.  But seriously.  I don't want to plan what I'm having way before I want to have it.  Mostly because it involves thinking about food when I'm not hungry.  I just don't want to make those calls before I think about what I want.

Now, that being said, I do realize that I need to get over that.  It's a fact that people who shop when they're hungry tend to go outside of their food plans (if they have any).  Plain and simple, it's not a good plan.

I'm not talking just about grocery shopping and home-prepped meals either.  I'm talking also about the surprise lunches at work or the "hey, let's just go grab something" meals that pop up.  Por ejemplo, today we went to Arby's.  The 'ol chicken club thingy (no mayo, natch - could have done without the cheese that I couldn't actually taste too...), which wasn't horrible - 350 cals.  Not bad for a full sammie.  It's those rotten (FRIGGIN' DELICIOUS!!!!!!) curly fries that'll get you.  A SMALL is 450 calories.  FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY CALORIES IN A SMALL.
What could I have done to prevent mowing down an extra meals' worth of grub at lunch?  Planned ahead, kimosabe.  Knew going in that those little spirals from heaven were such calorie bombs.  The thing that makes me roll my eyes at myself is that I have my damn phone and my little myfitnesspal app.  All. The. Time.

So, here's to another goal.

Starting this Sunday, I will make a meal plan for at least three meals next week.  NOT counting lunches - I will be making my own version of the unbelievably good Jimmy John's Unwich.  Not because I think I can do it better than they can (that's just foolish!), but because I'm cheap.  And because it's weird to go to JJ's five days a week.  It's strange when the peeps at the food joints know you.  Particularly the crazy happy folks at Jim's.
I will also strive to do a better job of pre-planning when it comes to impromptu lunches away from my fake JJ wiches.  I will look at the menu for wherever we're going, and I will figure out what the best thing I can eat is.  And then I'll possibly plan to take a run at the elliptical after the DVD of ass-kicking.  You know, depending on what the outcome of my little jaunt into the world of eating out.

There's my promise!  I really want to re-dedicate myself to this eating better thing.  I NEED to re-dedicate myself.  Stepped on the scale at work, and am down another two pounds, so I'm pretty excited.  I'm finally getting over that middle-of-the-10 hump that I seem to get myself jammed into.  I'm now on the lower end of the 10!  Woo!  I want to keep that momentum going into the summer and the getting outside and doing stuff for several months.

Anyone have any tricks for being more attentive to their meal planning?  I kind of think it's going to end up being like working out - where I just have to say to myself:  "Self?  We're doing this" and just do it. 

Grateful!

Oh yeah.

I'm grateful for plenty of things this week.

• Garden stores are my #1 this week.  Last week I blabbed about getting two types of Heirloom tomatoes.  Guess what, suckas?  I got FOUR types - plus good 'ol Early Girls and a cherry.  STOKED.  Brandywine, Black, Striped German, Yellow Pear (which I suspect is NOT heirloom - Mom?).  I'm so ready to be in tomato heaven.  Next up:  prepping the beds and planting.  I can't wait for the weekend!

• TREES!  This is playing off #1, but I'll take it.  We bought a crabapple tree!  I'm so very exited.  It looks kind of cold and forelorn out there in the front yard.  I kind of want to make sure it's gonna make it before I continue with my "island garden" plan.  I'll probably take this year just to look at and love that little tree (and pray my ass off that it lives!!!) and plan what else I want to go around it (perennials, I'm lookin' at you!) for next year.  We also pulled our poor little apple out of the hole it was in.  The dummies that we bought the house from apparently thought it was a great idea to plant the little bugger almost a foot in the ground.  Ummmm...what???  In non-draining clay?  Friggin' geniuses.  At any rate, we pulled that baby out.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that the two little trees will cross-pollinate and we'll have some apples next year!

• The Mountain pose.  I'm not even kidding when I say I've pulled this pose a couple of times in the bathroom this last week.  There's just something about standing there, thinking about how I'm breathing, to calm me down and make me get back to workin' it.

• Next:  LISTS.  I'm relying on these more and more lately.  Maybe I should rely on my DS Brain Age a little more.  HA.  Seriously though - I love, love, LOVE lists lately.  Every morning, I make a new list.  Every afternoon, I assess said list and see where things are at.  Then, I make another list.  I love lists.  I have lists for stuff that needs to happen at home too.

• Better Homes and Gardens.  From magazines to cookbooks, to gardening bibles.  I adore that publication.  Right now, I have two BHG mags, the aforementioned bible, and a cookbook sitting near me.  Sticky notes and bookmarks in all of them.

• My Dyson.  That little powerhorse kicks some serious ass.  We've put it through the ringer this week, and it's still taking it.  But, I suppose that's what it's supposed to do, right?  Per the commercials and all.

• In the spirit of the Badger Herald, I'll give an Anti-Shout Out (or ASO, for those in the know...) to the weather lately.  WTF, man.  As if it's not bad enough that my poor little yard is clay-ful and doesn't properly drain from just a little downpour, I also have to deal with constant rain this spring.  I'd like to plant my garden sometime soon.  That would be great.

Well, that's about it, kids.  Have another great week!

Seriously.

Time to get it together.

How long have I been blogging now?  No, really.  I'm not checking.  A couple of months?  Sure.  I've been waxing poetic about my (often mis)adventures in the fit world for a while now.  Acting like I know what I'm doing.  Doling out advice with little snippets of sheer genius.  But even though I've put up a little post about my goals and being more consistent and all that jazz, it's still not working 100%.

Hmmm.  Is there a lesson in all of this?  Of course there is.  A person can't be On all the time.  Eventually, that bulb burns out, and you're left more than Off - you're left frustrated and angry at yourself and disappointed.  "Why can't I do this?  Why am I not strong or good enough?"  All that negative talk is bad news.  All it does is derail the train to Awesometown.

Frankly, I'm struggling with the Effits.  As in, Eff It.  Things at work are seriously picking up.  Some days (like today, por ejemplo), I don't even get to stop working, much less leave my desk for lunch.  I worked over 9 hours today.  It's a busy time, and all that busyness makes me antsy - I feel like I'm not getting everything accomplished that I want to get done, and that sort of spirals into my personal life, no matter how much I want to keep it out.  Picking fights with Hubbs, being pissed about every little thing the dog does...it's irritating as all get up, frankly.  It DEFINITELY rolls over into working out and eating well.  For example, I'm currently writing this, drinking not my first, but my second Surley (Bender, because I know you're gonna ask) beer.  Why?  Because I had a 300-calorie lunch, so Eff It.

Therein lies my problem.

Consistency.  Sticking to it.  Moral aptitude?  Maybe.

I need to figure out how to be at 100% all the time.  I have the desire to be better at this.  That's gotta count for something, right?  Maybe that's the first step?  Knowing that I want to be better than I am must be the first step to getting to 100%.

Anybody else got a way that they get themselves to 11?

For the love of God, please share!

Also, I feel that it should be noted that I'm watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network.  It's about the best fried chicken.  It's like everything is working against me tonight!  Bah.

Holy. S.

So, I'm not big on giving too many specifics about myself, since this is a totally open blog.  I'm not thrilled about the idea of giving too much away.  You know, things like where I live, names, etc.  I'm not to that point of bloggy openness yet.  :)

Also included in this little list are little personal items like weight, measurements, etc.  Part of it is that I don't like to make myself too transparent (I'm a woman of mystery.  ha!).  Part of it is probably that I just don't want to deal with saying a lot of things out loud in type.

One of those little items is my actual clothing size.  I'm about to break the rules and just put a little more than I want to out there, but I'm just really excited about it.  It sort of feels worth it to say write it.  Without further ado, the reason I'm writing.

It's been a while since I've been able to walk into your average Old Navy and just buy a pair of pants off the rack.  Too small.  By more than just a little.  Ish.  I don't even like saying it.  Writing it, whatever.  I've been able to wear shirts from most "regular" stores, but not pants.  No way.  AND, I suppose I should point out that shirts haven't exactly been "lose" or "well-fitting" either.  But today, not only did I buy a swim suit (that doesn't fit right - my lovely lady lumps do NOT look awesome in that bad boy.  BUMMER) and a cute linen shirt, but I bought a pair of jeans.  They're just a small bit too tight for my comfort, but DANG if I didn't buy 'em.  A regular pair of jeans.  NOT a plus sized pair of jeans.  Off. The. Rack!

This is awesome.  I'm far more pumped about being able to buy a $22 pair of jeans than anyone should ever be, but whatever.  I'm so much more motivated to keep this thing going than I was before.  I mean, this is HUGE!  I'm so much closer to my goal than I really realized, and that's really exciting.  Without even really noticing it, I've lost enough weight to be only a few pants sizes closer to where I want to be.  I just can't wait till I'm able to say that I'm even closer in a few weeks.  By the time sister T gets married next year, I'm going to be thin enough to actually look DECENT in a bridesmaid dress!!

I still haven't gotten around to taking a good follow-up picture of myself to show how things are looking since the pic of me in October in Europe.  I'm working on it.  :)

Just a quick note

On Tuesday, I wore the shirt that I wore to interview at my current job in 2007.  IT WAS BIG.  It was actually a small bit snug on me when I interviewed, so I'm totally over the moon.  I also realized that I've lost roughly 25lbs since December!  Yeah, I know that's not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but it's been coming off steadily and hasn't come back.  That's kind of awesome!  I'm not entirely certain what my weight was when I first started all this, but I definitely feel like the "since December" weight is what I've noticed most.  I love it.

Since we're chatting about clothes, I'm going to keep going.  For the first time in...HISTORY, I think! I wore a skirt to work.  Me.  A skirt.  This super cute red and white toile number I got for a whopping $6 at the same place where I got my love-of-my-life jeans.  And I got a ton of complements on it, so even thought it's kind of big (SCORE!!!), it's going to stay.  Since I only paid $6 for the thing, I'm pretty much okay with getting it tailored down the road a bit.

That's about it for now.  Spring planting and cleaning and sprucing has been taking up most of my evenings, so I've been lame about posting once again.  I'm hoping to get an update pic sometime - maybe in the world's greatest jeans?!  :)

Anyone else out there have any success stories??

Another week, another crop of things I'm grateful for!

It was so lovely today that I don’t even want to write a post – I just wanna BASK.

But, since it’s Monday and all…

• I’m grateful for my coffee-making hubby.  Dude makes me coffee every morning before work, while I get myself all kinds of pretty.  Or, at least it’s-7AM-and-I-have-to-go-to-work pretty.  Funny story:  a couple of weeks ago, I got to the bottom of my cup ‘o’ happiness, and got a mouthful of grounds.  I sent Mr. P an email, thanking him for making me coffee, and subsequently asking him if he could be so good as to leave the grounds out next time.  His response:  “Think of them as little bits of love I sprinkle in your coffee.”  Ha!  PS – I’m totally going to make some kind of art out of that…

• I don’t know if you know this about me, but I can be a *smidge* pushy when I want something.  This particular time around, I wanted heirloom tomatoes.  So, I abandoned Mr. P to go home and mow the lawn and went to the great little nursery down the road.  AND GOT TWO DIFFERENT TYPES!!  Black and Striped German or something?  I don’t really remember the names off-hand, but I’m over the moon about having gotten them.  So what if we don’t get to eat out this week – I got my tomatoes!  Hmm.  Is this item being thankful for being pushy or for Mr. P putting up with me?  Or for my little nursery down the road for still having heirlooms?  I’ll go with numero tres.

• Next up:  friends with connections.  Like my friend cablanch and her rain barrel connection.  That’s right folks – we’re rain barrel-having hippies!  Love it.  I’m really excited to gather it up from her and plant it in the backyard.  It’s kind of super bright blue, but a little spray paint will fix that right up.  I’ve been wanting one for a while now, and I’m really excited to finally get one!  Go, team eco!

• Sprinklers.  They give me something to laugh (hysterically) at.  Dog thinks that they’re something to be murdered now.  When the heads pop up (we have an in-ground system), he wants nothing more than to eat them and the water than shoots out of them.  The garden hose too now.  Hopefully, I can catch a video of him doing it.  He seemed to know that we were trying, and stopped as soon as we hit the record button yesterday.  Sneaky devil.

• I’m really grateful for people who understand where I’m coming from and can share my frustration.  I’ll not go into it more than that.  Sorry for the cryptics.  J

• Extra’s newest Dessert Delights gum.  It’s Orange Crème Pop, and it’ll knock your socks off.  IT TASTES LIKE TANG!!!  It’s not like the mint chip ice cream one (where it actually tastes pretty much exactly like the dessert!), but it’s amazing.  If I could chew this gum for the rest of my life, I’d be friggin’ thrilled.  I hope you hear that, Extra gum folks.  Ha.

• On that same note, electronic toothbrushes.  I love you, Oral B 5000.  Look ma!  No cavities!

That’s about it.  Hope you were able to enjoy the sun as I was not – stupid dentist appointment.