Randomness

I'm in the mood to write a long, random post. I doubt I can get very far before I fall asleep, but here it goes:

• I don't know how people travel a lot for their jobs. I've traveled once this week and once last week, and I feel exhausted. So exhausted that last Saturday night I slept 11 hours & I also slept for 11 hours on Monday. I feel like I'm back in college when I would play and burn the 3am oil (either playing or studying) for several days in a row and then go to my boyfriend's place on Friday night and pretty much be comatose for 15 hours straight. 
• Although I'm supportive of gay marriage, I didn't change my profile picture. 
• Despite being overworked, I'm good. I feel really good. I've made some poor choices when it comes to food (especially while traveling), but overall it's okay.
• I've been more strategic with my exercise this month. I went to the gym 2x (once at the hotel gym and once I did a drop-in at the gym down the street). Instead of going to the elliptical by default when exercising at home or even at the gym, I've been more deliberate about target toning - abs, arms and legs. I can't really *see* a difference, but I *feel* a difference, if that makes any sense.
• Went to Vegfest. I was hoping to get my antioxidant levels checked again (since I rocked that test last year), but they were charging this year. I'm cheap, so I didn't get it done.
• My mom has sent me at least 12 e-mails about Easter dinner (we're hosting it). I want to tell her that I won't even be thinking about it until Saturday, so don't bug me. Yet I'm trying to be more patient and kind, so I'm responding "Sure whatever" to her 12 e-mails. I wonder if she notices. :-)
• Still here. More later. I feel like an accountant because this is my really busy season at work.

He told me so

I will be off on a work trip when I set this to post. I'll be gone for about 36 hours across the river and through the woods (Snoqualmie Pass) to the other side of the state.

Remember when I said that I should have listened to my husband about our upcoming NOT vacation and instead go on a cruise? Yep yep. There's so much drama involved. We were immediately told that we could NOT go to a hotel. I was bummed. Then within a couple of days of getting our plane reservations, I nailed down a day/time to meet with some friends. Most of them work, so we decided on Saturday afternoon. Great, right? S's aunt told him to let her know if we wanted to schedule anything. So S wrote an e-mail to his aunt saying that I scheduled Saturday afternoon to meet with my friends, and that's all that we have planned so far.

She wrote back that I have to change that to a different day. No explanation other than she scheduled a family party at that time.

That pissed me off. That pissed my husband off. So we're being told what we can and cannot do on our "vacation"? Welcome to my husband's family, where you are a child until you die.

She wrote back that she already has changed the date of the family party once, and so now it cannot change.

It turns out that S's aunt scheduled her own birthday party for when we'll be in town. We had originally thought we'd be there at the beginning of May, but it got moved to earlier so she moved her party to coincide with our arrival. I have understanding friends, so that got moved to Sunday. We're both grumbling, but I suppose that second stumbling block - after not being allowed to stay in a hotel - has been maneuvered.

However, the dread over our NOT vacation continues. Julia is the only excited one. She's excited about flying on a plane and her new backpack that she got for the trip. I would prefer a week-long prison sentence over staying with his controlling aunt for a week. S mumbles about a cruise as he intercepts e-mails and texts and phone calls from his mother, father and aunts about this trip. I'm wondering if you can mix Vicodin and Xanax and in what quantities for a steady, happy haze that lasts about a week.

Yes, my dear husband told me so. I'll listen to him next time.

Decisions You Might Regret

We all do stupid things. The 80s were full of them. Was it the soaring stock market or the cocaine? There are so many disturbing things in this cover art for a Sheriff album. I downloaded the song "When I'm With You" after I heard it played in 388 Arletta (an interesting, slightly disturbing movie). I thought it was a pretty generic power ballad before that, but it had quite a creepy aura that matched the movie in the scene where it played.

So, anyway, I was staring at the cover art. It blurs as you move toward the bottom. There's so much 80s commentary that I have, but I will spare you from it all. The person I want to point out is the mustached mime in workout gear. Do you ever thinks he regrets that ensemble? Or was he on so much cocaine that he'd do whatever the record label wanted him to?

These are the random things I think about. Welcome to my world.

Monday food

I've been saying I'm going to record what I eat, and then I end up forgetting to take a picture. This first picture is my breakfast and lunch at work: an orange, a serving of cinnamon applesauce, organic spring mix with spinach and a few spritzes of spray dressing, a serving of green beans with pepper, and a can of lentil soup. It added up to a little less than 600 calories. For dinner I had two servings of chicken taco salad (imagine 2 of the second picture): shredded chicken, black beans, cheese on organic spring mix. Not pictured is a handful of tortilla chips (200 cal). I'm thinking the taco salads were 800 calories. All in all, 1600 calories today.

A Serious Post - Body Image Issues

When I was a kid, I weighed on the lower end of normal. I was fairly active, and I was a sensible eater for the most part. Then I turned 13, and I literally gained 30 pounds in a few months. Mostly boobs and hips, but I freaked out over it. My reaction to this was to hide my body. Fortunately the style at the time in Seattle was baggy jeans and flannel. I literally lived in baggy jeans and t-shirts with flannel shirts over them for years and years. At least 6 years. I had at least 50 different flannel shirts. There were a few months here and there, usually summer, when I decided to give up the baggy layered look and favored shorts and t-shirts instead.

I took comfort in my flannel and baggy jeans. I could hide my fatness or what I perceived to be my fatness. My mom has called me 'chubby' for a lot of my life, which doesn't help a girl to favorably view her body.

I've come a long way mentally since then - and put another 15 pounds over the course of 20 years. I could lose a significant amount of weight - I know that. I'm a curvy girl with a lot to spare. But, on the other hand, I'm physically active, I like to eat, my husband loves me, I still regularly get carded, and I still have random guys try to hit on me. I'm not living in baggy jeans and flannel anymore. I'm not going around wearing next to nothing either. I feel fine with who I am although I wouldn't turn down a 15 pound weight loss.

So, interwebs, this is all to say that I'm showing a picture of myself. Most of those who read this know me in real life, and you know what a fan I am (not) of getting my picture taken. If you happen to end up here somehow randomly, please know that this a big step for me.

Saturday Food

 Unlike most days, today I had 3 actual meals (vs. snacking most of the day). Other than what you see here, I did have a 200 cal chocolate chip cookie. 1800 total cal (estimated because I ate out). To get to 1300, I have to burn 500 calories before bed. That's equivalent to an hour on the elliptical or an hour of medium exercise.Just finished an hour on the elliptical.

Breakfast caesar salad - 350 cal (including 100 cal of dressing in upper left)

Teriyaki chicken, rice & veggies (750 calories?)

That's spaghetti squash (NOT actual spaghetti) with ground turkey meat sauce (500 cal?)

Explanation of Previous Entry

My last post was my February by the Numbers-I sent the picture from my phone, and it's hard to blog via my phone. Hence, separate post. February overall was a balanced month. I did a little bit of everything, and I was quite good with exercise. I'm typically always good with exercise, but sometimes I think I just say that but really am not. Fortunately that doesn't seem to be the case because I do exercise for an hour or so every other day, averaging out to half an hour a day. Sure, I theoretically could do more, but I think 30 minutes a day is decent enough.

My weight...well, that's been pretty much the same. I've been exercising. I've stopped snacking before bed. I'm keeping a steady eye on what I eat. There's a number of possible reasons that I've only lost ONE pound in two months. Muscle weighs more than fat, I don't have that much to lose, I've basically been doing the same exercise regimen I've been doing for the past several years, I still eat a cookie or candy here and there...

I really do need to pay closer attention to food intake to keep myself honest. It's the start of a new month (writing this on the morning of March 1st, probably will post after I complete this). Not sure whether I should use my app for nutrition counting or here with pictures or my FB group. My app tells me that if I eat 1,300 net calories per day (total calories - the number of calories I burn), I'll lose 1 pound a week.

Shall I try it and see if I actually get those numbers? Couldn't hurt.

Happy March!