Project update time!

One of the things I love about keeping a blog is the ability to go back and read old posts...I've been trying to do this more consciously lately, because I use this blog a lot to "remember to..." and it sure helps to re-read!!!

Anyways - here is a list of some projects I had going, that it is time for an update on! It's been a really busy summer so far - I had a summer class, started my practicum, and have relatives visiting from Spain. I feel a little scattered, a little frantic... and like I am losing sight a little bit on some of my goals. So this is a good time to stop and revisit them.



1. Thesis
I've had one long thesis meeting this summer - which was both really helpful and really exhausting at the same time. My thesis is on measuring adult homeschooler's attitudes towards psychotherapy. I'm a little lost with some of the statistics, and feel like I need a refresher course. I have another meeting on Wednesday, so I have a lot of work to do between now and then. We are working on our 10-20 page "thesis plan" which is basically the skeleton of the thesis that we will flesh out over the next year. There are 4 other people working on their theses, and we meet as a group with our advisor. It's a great group - with a variety of projects. I really enjoy working with them... but definitely need to get in some good hours of thesis work in the next few days.

2. Craft Shows - I did several a few months ago, but have really pushed the pause button on it right now. I had to, for my sanity - but I am looking forward to getting back into it for the holidays.

3. Classes at CSULB
3a. Summer Class - This was a 7 or 8 week class that was HARD and I really enjoyed it. It was taught my our department head, and she knows her stuff. It was an in-depth treatment planning class, and I just got my grade yesterday: the hard work was worth it! I got an A...which I was really not sure I was going to get at the beginning of the semester. The next semester starts on August 29th, so I have 1 month of "freedom." (hahaha.)


4. Practicum - The last update was that I had a site... Since then I have started training at Mariposa Women and Family Center. It's been great, and informative. It's been a lot of policies and procedures training...we just started in on the forms and finances this last week. I'll keep doing training once a week until the end of August, when I start seeing clients!




5. Work - I am still working 3 days a week as A2A Coordinator and Auditor. I don't have a lot to say about that. I enjoy it when I am there, but it is hard for me to get out the door to get there. We did just get a few overnight events approved, so that's exciting. The photo is of me at our Bowling Blast event.

6. Exercise - The last time I wrote I was on week 3 of the C25K program, with the goal of running the Surf City 5k. Well - I made it all the way through the C25K program - and was amazed that I did it. I remember thinking how hard it was to run 60 seconds at a time....and I finished by running 35 minutes! Amazing. About 1 week before the 5K, I had some abdominal pains, and went to the ER. It turned out that I had another ruptured ovarian cyst. I did not need surgery this time, but I was put on bedrest for a little while. I was prepared NOT to run the 5k, but I was really, really, really disappointed that I would not be reaching my goal. The morning of the 5k, I decided to just put on my running clothes so I'd feel like part of the group (my husband, our roommate, and his girlfriend were all running the 5k as well.) I just sort of let myself get swept up in the 5k crowd at the starting line...and then started running! I decided that I could stop at any time, or walk at anytime, but that secretly I wanted to at least make it to the 1 mile marker. The 1 mile marker came up faster than I thought it would, so I decided to try for 2. Our friends took off, but my husband stayed by my side the whole time. The last 1/2 mile was the hardest - I was barely running, but I did it. My husband held my hand and we skipped across the finish line. :) It was an incredible moment for me. a)I had actually completed the C25k program, b)I ran a 5k - my 3rd ever, c)I triumphed over difficulties, d)I did it with my husband.

About an hour after, I started experiencing some real pain, and I am fairly certain that I pushed my recovery back about 3 days. But you know what? I am still glad I did it.

After that 5k, I sort of just...stopped exercising. I didn't have something I was training for, which I realize is a problem. My next goal is to compete in a Sprint Triathlon. I'm going to give that it's own category now.


7. Sprint Triathlon training - I have done a little bit of research and have found a few free training programs. I'm so clueless that I'm having a little bit of a hard time figuring out what to do. What I should do is to run 3 days a week, and bike and swim on the other days. What I am doing right now - is 2 days a week of Water Aerobics, and that is all. I really love this water aerobics class, so I don't plan on giving it up. What I think I will do is go 30 minutes before the class and ride the bike on those days. I do need to pick up my running training again. I need to make a schedule and stick to it.

8. Healthy living - I joined weight watchers a few weeks ago. I go Sunday mornings at 8am with my aunt. It's been great - except I feel like I've been sabotaging myself this week. Yesterday I took steps to get back on track - I bought produce and some basic ingredients. Today I made sure I ate breakfast, and I've been snacking on oranges and celery and drinking my water. I need to remember what is important to me, and where I want to get back to. In other healthy living news... I am feeling the need for increased beauty in my life. I need nature, green, trees, ocean - something. Even if it's just smelling my tomato plants or putting my feet in mud in my front yard. This is important for my mental health, and I need to remember that.

9. Therapy - I put it on my list of projects because it's a) a big chunk of my time each week, and b)it feels like a huge project and I think about it a lot. First off, I love my therapist, and I love the 2 hours a week I am in that office drinking tea. There is this feeling of expansion inside of me that I get while I am sitting there - I feel light and on my way to understanding everything. When I leave, that feeling contracts a little bit, but less and less each week.

10. Husband - it was DH's birthday last week and I organized a surprise LAN party for him and his computer-game-lovin friends. I even downloaded the game and learned a little bit how to play too. :) It was fun and I think everyone enjoyed it! Our ONE YEAR anniversary is next week, and I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one too. Any ideas for a gift??

11. Cousins - my cousins Keyvan and Yasmin have been visiting from Spain all summer. They are staying one street over with my parents, and have been the catalyst for all sorts of fun so far this summer. We've been to the OC Fair (my favorite place on earth),
Rancho Los Alamitos, many-a-beach, , the midnight showing of Harry Potter , the grunion run (Adam was working that night)



Anyways - crazy summer. This weekend I am heading to Santa Barbara for my friend's baby shower, coming back and doing thesis work! I've been commissioned by another friend to knit 5 shawls for her bridesmaids... and I'd really like to do more stuff outside. How do I have time for it all?? gotta figure that out.... :)

templates for life

I have microsoft 2007 on my work computer now, and so I've spent the last few days playing with the new templates that are available...and I am thrilled. I have so many fun little organizational tools! One of the hardest things in the world for me to do, and one that makes my relationship with Adam better, is to keep things just - straightened. I have a habit of making messes, getting distracted, and leaving them for weeks.

I printed a great little checklist - daily stuff, weekly stuff, and monthly stuff. I put up a corkboard next to my computer at home and now keep track! It's fantastic. It helps me be more aware - and if all else fails, right before I go to sleep I do a sweep through of the house to make sure I haven't left yarn all over the place.

Also printed a grocery list organizer. Heehee. Not that I really need that, but I like using it!!!

Today I am starting training for a Sprint Triathlon. Not that I'll be doing one, but it's been a goal of mine, so I might as well start training now.

Also starting hard-core Juno training.

Allllsooo...cooking 1 weight watcher recipe, and 1 hungry girl recipe.

Will try to post photos of June Lake tomorrow. Now it's time to go!

new template

You probably have noticed that the look of the blog has changed! I was bored with simplicity and wanted to jazz things up a little bit. I don't know how long it'll last, but for now, I love the details in all of the stitching. :) I also am proud of myself that I was able to go in and edit some of the html!!!

Today I work until 5, then head home and brush the puppy dog. She's shedding like crazy and the whole house just feels FULL of dog hair. The bathtub won't drain because of it. glug glug glug. So I need to brush her, a lot, vacuum, do my 16th straight day of P90X (WOOHOO!) and maybe even do some laundry and dishes. I am debating another batch of marmalade. I've done nothing but make that for the last 2 days and I might be burning out - but I still have SO MANY lemons, and it's really not thaaaat time consuming...

I have a few knitting projects I would like to get back to as well - I have the two kitty hats I am doing for Katy - one is done, just needs pompoms, and then I can start on the other. I also have yarn for my cousin's flower scarf, and I've got two separate pairs of socks half way done.

Today I had a meeting at work I was nervous about, and about 4 minutes before I was supposed to go into it, Adam called to apologize for being sort of grumpy last night, that he wished he hadn't said anything except how much he loves and appreciates me. I am feeling recharged to go and take care of errands and house stuff...all because one little sentence from him turns it into a chore I have to do, to something I want to do gladly in order to make our house and our life better. Silly how that little perspective change makes a huge difference.

Today is also the good-tv day - American Idol AND Top Loser. This is the first time I've watched either of those shows - but I have to say, there is something terribly fun about keeping up with a popular show.

I bought the new Weight Watcher slow cooker book - it looks amazing. I want to make all of the recipes. I wish it had more photos, and I wish I had more money for groceries!!! Man oh man do I like to cook.

gratitude and my life

I love days when I feel recharged by work, as opposed to drained by it. I wasn't terribly thrilled to get up out of bed at 6:30am this morning - Adam's been having some deep-coughing issues for the last few days, and his coughing and wheezing woke me up on a pretty regular basis last night. I have a new phone, and the unfamiliar alarm sound was jarring. But I did it, I got up out of the house only 15 minutes after I'd intended - and still made it to work 15 minutes early. I had time to DO things before my morning meeting, and at the meeting I created an actually manageable to-do-list, rather than an overwhelming list of vague wants and desires.

The reason I am recharged is because of the Walk for Independence - this has been both the most frustrating project AND the most rewarding for me. We had some issues getting up off the ground - all stemming to my vision being distinctly different than the executive director's vision. I felt like I wasn't being trusted to run a good event - and she felt like I was letting what was important to HER slide through the cracks. But now that we've got some stuff decided, we have momentum, and we actually have people registering, both of us have relaxed and can just enjoy the show.

I am personally gratified that my pleas to my friends on facebook have come through in such an amazing way. I wanted to raise $260 - because I couldn't quite get all of the food donated, and I felt bad about that. $260 covered the cost - I asked them to donate even if they could only donate $1.00 - and some people did just that. I received several $1.00 bills in the mail - which actually DOES provide an entire lunch to someone, and is a very helpful contribution. On the other end of the spectrum, in the last hour, I received 2 $100.00 donations. I've received everything in between, and have basked in the funny little notes and well-wishes that have also been included.

We have 59 people registered now, with many more people saying that they are *going* to register, so I am feeling better about that too. I was afraid it would just be us at the park...but it looks like we will have some company. :)

Because of this walk, too, we even got an elevator donated to our building. We still have to raise $100,000 to install the thing, but the elevator could have cost us as much as $75,000 - and it was DONATED. All because of the walk.

I've been interviewed by newspapers, we're in the AAA magazine, we have an inter-departmental competition here, we made a fantastic video of our clients, we've harnesses the amazing support of PI staff, clients, board members, family, friends and strangers... I'm inspired. Really and truly inspired today.


In other news - yesterday was a good day too. I went to a Bridal Expo with my sisters and cousin...it was intense, and made me really glad that I am not planning a wedding like that. I am glad to have had the experience, though. We got bored wit it after a couple of hours, so headed to the MAC store at South Coast Plaza, where we did makeup trial runs for my wedding! My cousin in law has a discount there, so I got to purchase a bunch of stuff and not break my budget. She's going to be doing my makeup for the wedding, too, so I won't have to pay a makeup artist.

After that we stopped by my aunt's for a goodbye dinner for a friend of the family's - played Pop5, the BEST PARTY GAME EVER, and then I went home and did a 10 minute sparkpeople video for day 1 of my new bootcamp. I realized at the last minute that I needed to cook chicken, and all I can say is - God Bless the Crockpot. I threw in chicken with some broth, a few carrots, half an onion, a bunch of mushrooms, some garlic, and a cup of dried lentils..and this morning had stew ready to take for lunch. After I did that, I fed dogs, crocheted most of a hat, wrote in my journal, and fell asleep watching The Office once Adam came home.

Today at 4:50 I will put on my gym clothes and head to the Brookhurst gym, where I will do 20 minutes on the exercise bike, and 42 minutes of walk/jog combo (5 walk, 5 run, 2 walk, 5 run, 2 walk, 5 run, 2 walk, 5 run, 2 walk, 4 run, 5 walk). Then I'm going to go to Walmart to use my gift certificate to buy a stability ball, go home, do my 10 min. bootcamp video, take Juno for a walk, make lunches, spend 10 minutes working on my camp-to-be, write in my journal, pack for santa fe, and take my bag/spinning wheel/rosie's yarn over to my parents.

Tuesday, work and working out, Wednesday work, Thursday work til noon, then Santa Fe til sunday! When I get back I need to remember to call Adam's dad for some Juno training sessions.

I am very tired. I am looking forward to habit getting me to the gym, and the gym waking me up. I need to increase my liquid intake over the next few hours, and head for fruit if I get snacky. Luckily, I brought a bunch of oranges, grapes, and an apple with me.


my backyard lemon tree, the inspiration for my wedding!

ooooooofta. Getting that awful shaking-sore-throat-red-eyed feeling of sickness coming 'round the corner. Drinking TONS of water, took vitamins, but - blech. Half the office went home early today with headaches. There are only 3 of us left here. Thinking that maybe I can call it an early day too.

I hate to break my exercise streak even though I feel so bad. Luckily today is my long bike ride day, so I can sit and pedal and read Emily of New Moon or listen to Harry Potter.

After work, then the gym, I am going home, making some sort of dinner (taco salad?) grabbing clothes, project, pillow, blanket, and heading to Frank's to stay with one of our clients for the night. My shift is from 10pm-8am. Tomorrow morning on my way home I will stop at the gym and do 16 minutes of running and 10 on the elliptical. Again, if I need to take it easy and walk for three minutes between every two minutes of running, I will.

Then there's the YA holiday party, and the Walton's holiday party - both of which I would love to go to, and both of which I am hoping I don't feel too awful for. I also haven't spent ANY time with my fiance this week, and as he has to work on Sunday.......it will greatly depend on him.

Today I went on a little rant at a coworker about how much I love my home. It's nice to feel peaceful. I haven't experienced much of that in my life. Peace. Calm. Contentedness.

getting ready to leave for florida/bahamas!

My tooth infection was drained the last time I went to the dentist, and temporarily filled. The temporary filling proved just that, and has been missing for a few days now. I can't stop playing with it, making little sucking noises on the the hollowed-out-tooth. I am sure everyone around me is tremendously grateful, but every *once* in a while, it hurts in a weird hollow-achy-echoing sort of way, and so I keep messing with it...not that I want to hurt, but I have to keep testing it. Stupid intermittent reinforcement.

Anyways, I decided not to even call the dentist until I get back from my trip, because it's bearable now. I just don't eat on that side. My trip! My trip! I am leaving bright and early early early on Saturday morning! My mom is dropping me off at the office at 6:30am, where I commence Being In Charge of 40 people - 32 of whom have developmental disabilities. We fly to Orlando, stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort, go to Disney's Magic Kingdom for 5 days, then board a cruise ship and head out to the islands of Nassau and Castaway Cay - where I will be swimming with dolphins, para-sailing, and peering through glass bottom boats. We fly back on November 8th.

I am not quite comprehending that we are leaving the day after tomorrow. I'm still a little dazed. All organized - mostly - but disbelieving.

Today's so-strong-it-almost-knocked-me-over realization was how much I was going to miss Adam and my puppy dog. I had a fantastic morning with Adam today - it's nice when he doesn't have to work super early AND he wakes up while I'm still home. Last night I stayed up past my bedtime watching the movie Defiance - Adam begggged to put it on, and then fell asleep before the plot twisted even a little bit. It is not the type of movie I would normally choose for myself - I have a hard time watching anything emotional - rather, I have a hard time *choosing* to watch anything that makes me feel beyond light and fluffy. I am emotional enough - when I watch movies, I want to relax, not cry. However - I am usually *glad* when I watch emotionally-deep movies, because, let's face it, they're better quality than Dude, Where's My car? So anyways - I stayed up really, really late watching a lot of Jewish people die horrific deaths.

Anyways. Adam. Juno. My beautiful beautiful puppy dog and my amazing amazing man. Many mornings when I wake up, Adam and Juno are both still sleeping - Juno usually wakes up but doesn't move much - just follows me with brown eyes while I'm getting ready. Adam looks so good in our green sheets and blankets - secretly one of the reasons I picked out that color. I have a very hard time leaving the dogs and boy in the morning - when it's cold out and there is this wonderful October sunshine and I just want to stay in bed, one hand petting Juno, watching Adam's freakishly long eyelashes.

Too mushy for you? Sorry. I am all mush today. I am currently impressed with his ability and desire to always *improve* himself. The two of us being who we are butt heads in certain areas pretty damn frequently, but all the upset is worth it when I tell him something is important to me and I can SEE the work and effort he has put into understanding my needs more. It's an amazing feeling. I am feeling so lucky.

He won't be home when I get home tonight - so I am going to stop at the gym first with Tulip - I am going to walk for 5 minutes on the treadmill, run for 12, walk for 5 more, then do 38 minutes on the bike. That will cover what I was supposed to do yesterday, and what I am supposed to do today, with a few minutes extra to count towards my goal of 500 fitness minutes this month. I currently am at 365 minutes....so add up that, and I will need to do 75 minutes tomorrow to hit my goal!!!!

After the gym, I'll go home and put two butternut squash in the oven, and cook the lentils I bought today - I splurged on red AND green lentils, just to make a prettier plate. I have tracked my food fantastically well for the last week - and hope the scale will show it tomorrow at my weight watchers meeting. Even if it doesn't - because I seem to have a 1 week lag reaction time - I'll feel good about knowing I did it for a whole week. I plan on continuing it on my trip - I will be taking ww oatmeal and a bunch of fruit and other food with me to avoid crap.

I also want to take Juno for a walk tonight, and continue the packing process. I miss Adam already. My pirate costume is fantastic. Yay thriftstores.

I think that is all for now. I am all sorts of mixed feelings right now!

recap of my week

We still haven't heard confirmation from the landlords about when we can actually get the key. I'm really frustrated. We can't exactly start packing til we know when we can move, since we'll just be sitting amidst boxes and boxes. I packed up *some* stuff anyway...took photos off the wall, magnets off the fridge, and packed up my toiletries. I'm proud: I am getting rid of a ton of stuff, too.

Tomorrow is Adam's graduation - which means today they are doing the Pride Run - they wear their class shirts and go for a minimum of 8.5 miles. Yeesh. Then they have a class bbq, and then have "graduation practice" whatever that means. I can't believe the academy is almost done. It seems too good to be true. I hope I'm not laboring under the misconception that I'll get my boyfriend back...he seems to think that the next 6 months of probation at work will be harder. But holy cow, I don't see how that can be. At least it won't be the same kind of hard for me - the academy was all consuming and there were 60 other people to be consumed with. At work, he'll be the new guy, but it'll still be a regular *JOB* - not a lifestyle that I am locked out of.

So tomorrow I'm either driving up with Chris or my mom to Pasadena to be the proudest girlfriend ever. I got him a gift - a pair of Smith and Wesson cuffs, with his name and the date engraved. I hope he likes them. He was talking about how much he needed a second pair of cuffs, and I figured it'd be a nice way to commerorate the occasion too. Useful AND sentimental! Score!

In other non-cop related news I've been trying to go to a bunch of group classes at the gym this week - my goal was 4 different classes: step, spin, aqua and turbo kickboxing. However, I only made it to two different ones: turbokickboxing and step. I did attempt to go to spin, but they were full! Aqua I didn't go to because my elbow was hurt and I didn't want to push it. However, I liked both TKB and Step a lot and I'm going back to the Step class today.

I'm done with 1 of Rosie's striped kneesocks, and have about 4 stripes done on the 2nd one, and then lost steam. I've got to get that back out again at some point. They're not really difficult, and they're actually really fun to knit. I just put it in my art supply room, and then the entrance to that room keeps getting stacked high with boxes and junk and it's actually physically hard to get in there! heehee. So I should make a foraging expedition and get them out.

I've been feeling like I'm getting sick for the past week, and I was so glad to be in bed by 9:30pm last night. I don't feel better today, but I don't feel worse either, which is good.

That's all from me, for now. I wish we had the go ahead on the house!

knitting and my dogs...again!

I am slowly trying to go through my things and either find old projects to work on instead of buying new ones. I have sooo many half finished projects - 4 or 5 pairs of socks, gloves, scarves, beanies, latch hook rugs, cross stitch, oh man. So the other day I was just craving doing tiny clicking bamboo needle knitting, and I found a pair of knee length striped socks that weren't even half done - only about 3 inches of one leg was done! It's perfect. I've been working on it just for a day now, and I've already quadrupled the amount I had, and it's neat because I am obviously such a better knitter now than I was 5 years ago when I started.

I put aside the Juliana project for the time being. It's kind of mindless, what with needing to knit 3 feet of the same damn thing, but on the other hand, you also can't tune out completely or you'll wreck the pattern. So it's something I will resign myself to being an ongoing slow project that I will take with me to conferences and things where it's either knit that or knit nothing.

Yesterday was karate - my stomach was hurting so I didn't feel like I was paying good attention, or giving it my all, strength wise - so I tried to concentrate on technique. We did an exercise where we kicked through rebreakable boards - with two of them together instead of just one. My right snap kick is by far my strongest, and the first three were easy, but that darn brown rebreakable board gets me every time. I will work on this! I will also work on my side kicks and my hooking heel, so that when my next belt test comes along I'll be ready.

My puppy got her rabies shots last weekend, and has had enough cycles of her other shots so that I can start taking her places soon! I can't wait! I've been dying to get her on a leash so we can go walk through Central Park and go to the beach and stuff!!! She's such a sweetheart - she has two very distinct moods. There's the Crazy Eyes mood where here eyes roll back in her head and her teeth come out and she rolls around on her back trying to get her pearly whites on anything that will stay still. You have to watch your ankles when she is in that mood. Her other mood is her sweet, calm, loving mood where she follows me around throughout the house as I putter, and when I take a shower she comes and lies down on the shower step and when I do dishes she lies down on my feet! I love this dog. I can't believe how much I love this dog!

The big dog keeps chewing a hotspot on his back so he now officially has been CONED. This means you have to watch out because he doesn't know how wide or painful he is when he tries to brush by you. This also means I need to separate the two dogs because Juno likes to grab onto Rommel's cone and pull. Juno gets the backyard during the day (Rommel has the advantage of more years of house breaking) and Rommel gets the backyard at night (Rommel doesn't struggle with separation anxiety).

Let's see..what else... Adam graduates in...22 days! The week before he graduates, some of his academy friends, their husbands and wives, and me, will be going out to a fancy dinner. He told me a week ago that I need to decide what I am wearing SOON because he doesn't want to deal with my last minute what-to-wear panicking that I always do for every holiday or event. Hah. He knows me too well.

I've been doing a sparkpeople Sweatsuit to Swimsuit Challenge, and I am pleased to report that I haven't missed a day in 2 weeks! Coach Nicole's Cardio Blast DVD with 6 ten minute workouts have saved me so many times - when it's late and I don't feel like going to the gym and I don't even feel like doign 30 whole minutes of working out, I tell myself I am just going to do 1 ten minute segment, and invariably I end up doing more!

I feel like there is so much more I want to talk about, but really I'm just pining for my knitting and my puppy. My knitting is sitting on my desk next to me, and it's so hard not to do that, but I really need to go back to work. Ah! I am so glad this weekend is a three day weekend!

oh hey, my little sister is having her Gold Award Ceremony this weekend! HOW AMAZING IS THAT? REALLY AMAZING, that's what!

want to mooooove

I've been so antsy at work all day long. I think because my day started with a 2 hour long meeting, I just felt like a little kid had grabbed onto both my legs and wasn't letting go so I was dragging them along. To combat this feeling, I have been running up and down the stairs all day, asking people downstairs to tell me when they have something that needs to go up, so I can take it. I also did 100 calf exercises on the bottom step of the stairs, and....I put a workout video up on my computer as background music - if I can't actually exercise, at least I'm preparing myself mentally for 5pm! Sick, maybe, but it's working. I can't wait to get done and work out.

I am debating working out here in my office, or going home. I think if I go home I'll find other things I need to do and won't work out as much. We shall see.

Otherwise, I need to make lunches, pick up/drop off dry cleaning, do my Sweatsuit to Swimsuit challenge video, and do SOMETHING with the dishes and the dining room table. I also need to eat one more servings of veggies for my StoS extra challenge. Tomorrow is karate, Friday I get off work early, and then - WEEKEND!

I want to move it move it

My Spring Fling Festival was a blast, and it's DONE and I can breath again! I have an event this Wednesday, one next tuesday, and one the week after and then it's back to semi-normalcy!!! Yay!

I joined a women's health challenge and am excited to have joined yet another thing. This summer I really want to be more active - I want to run, swim, bike, yoga, and do karate. I think today after work I'll go to the dry cleaners, then go home, grab my bike and library books and ride there..get some new books, and then do my yoga video. Later tonight I'll go to the gym and run and swim. I miss swimming, but don't really enjoy swimming at the gym since there's too many non-swimmers in the pool. I am thinking about taking a swim-for-fitness class this summer at Goldenwest. 6:30-7:45am two mornings a week..I can do that!

Yesterday I cooked spagetti for Adam's lunch, I thawed a veggie stew I'd made and frozen, and made white rice to go with it for A's lunch tomorrow, and then I also made Hungry Girl falafel. YUMMY! I love Hungry Girl. This weekend I am going to the Sparkpeople convention allll day Saturday in San Diego, and so I need to get ready for that too. I slept in accidentally this morning and was 1 1/2 hours late for work. Today is Monday, yes oh yes it is. I also got the craving to knit socks.
Basically, I'd like to be almost anywhere but sitting at a desk right now. Ahhh. Getting restless and it's only 3:40!

today

tonight - I picked up tshirts for bowling blast (work), went to the grocery store, went home, made chicken/bellpepper/onion kebabs, grilled them, swept, wrapped up joel's bags, did dishes, cleaned the fridge, watered the garden, made asparagus, went to karate, went to the gym and went swimming.

Now I am tired. very, very tired. I believe it is time for bed. I bought a bunch of barley, lentils, and split peas at the store - I am suddenly very excited about cooking grains and legumes. The lentils I made the other day - plain old lentils with nothing in them - have been hitting the spot all week. I can't wait for barley.

I drank all my water today, got some exercise, and kept up with sparkpeople. I kept up with house chores and remembered to hang my keys on my new hook so I don't spend ten minutes every day looking for them. I remember Char always saying that success is a series of small good habits practiced every day. So all these little things- remembering to hang up my keys and water the garden.....success. All success.

food woes

I don't know how much I have talked about my eating issues/exercising/weight loss/etc. on here - but it's a decently large focus of my life so it deserves some air time. About 4 years ago I stepped on a scale and weighed 201 pounds. I about died right there. That was the day I decided to start losing weight. I proceeded to, without the help of any "diet" - just by eating right, cutting out soda, and exercising - to lose 50 pounds. It wasn't easy, but it was FUN. I actually enjoyed the process. My boyfriend at the time helped me a lot - I asked him to never comment on what I was eating, except at the beginning of each meal to ask me to think about what I wanted to eat before I ate it. He also helped me develop my own personal exercise grid. I had so much fun every night checking off the little boxes for "50 crunches, 30 leg lifts.." etc. I would exercise while I watched West Wing every night.

At some point I realized I wasn't going to lose weight unless I started running. So every day after work I would drive to Cypress College track and go 8 times around - running the straights and walking the curves. I hated it with a passion. But there was always something to fixate on - a little old asian man who walked with his head down and didn't look at anyone but was there every single time. A tall black woman with this incredibly bright gold jacket who was there a lot, etc.
I worked at a daycare, so I was outside a lot with the kids. At one point I realized how much more I wanted to be active, and it was so fun to be able to actually play kickball and handball and tag and stuff with them.

When I started working here, I knew that going from working at a daycare (and I worked part time at a nature center where I walked all day long giving tours) to working at a desk in an office would be difficult for me to stay active. So that's when I joined weight watchers. My mom had lost about 85 pounds and was very invested in that program, my aunts were doing it, it seemed like a good option for me to maintain being healthy. So I started going to meetings and tracking my points.

I really love the weight watcher's program and their focus on the healthy living habits. I no longer go to the meetings (if I could afford it, I would) but I still track my points. I go through phases, though - and it's SO OBVIOUS how much better I feel when I do track and when I exercise.

I made my own tracking form and keep the points calculator in my purse. I use a lot of the online resources you can find just by googling. I started hardcore tracking my points on October 28th, and the only gap I have had since then was three days over Thanksgiving. However, I am not doing so well with the healthy eating things. Here is how I am going to fix it:
1. Water - I need to drink 6-8 cups of water a day. I have been totally slacking on this. I will make sure I have a water bottle with me all the time! No more ordering diet soda for a while either, I will drink water!
2. Fruits and veggies - I need to go shopping. It's as simple as that. I am out of fresh produce.
3. Dairy - need to buy non fat milk and yogurt.
4. Oils - this is hard for me. I never know how to get in oil except for salad dressing. So I guess I'll try to make more salad.
5. Vitamin - About half the days I forget. I will just have to make it a more consistent part of my morning routine.
6. Grazing - I do better when I eat small amounts of food all day long, rather than one or two big meals. Having more fruit and veggies to snack on will help with this. Also ordering less food when I go out. For example - although it's a good deal, I will not be buying the foot long veggie subway anymore, because that makes me want to eat it! Instead, I will buy the 6 inch, with the knowledge that if I am still hungry afterwards, I can always go buy another one.
7. Exercise - I miss running. I actually do. I am charging my ipod right now, I have my gym clothes in the car. I will change at work, and head to the gym or to Seal Beach to run. Tomorrow I will do the same thing. Friday I have an A2A event so I probably won't have time - unless I ask my supervisor for a long lunch and do it then. Or even if I just take a walk on the river trail for lunch. That would at least keep me thinking active and not break my streak.
7a. Crunches - I had a weekly challenge with a coworker of mine to do a certain number of crunches a day. We haven't done it for months. Today is the day we reactive that!

Okay. That's all from me. Sometimes writing down your intentions is the key to making them actually happen. I am using all of you as witnesses to help keep me accountable. Thanks!

oh you know, stuff

Well, yesterday's doctor's appointment turned out to be a big emotional drain/letdown/hopeful visit. It was a weird mix. I didn't end up getting a biopsy...but I also don't feel very good about making progress in figuring out exactly what is going on. The doc gave me something else to try for another month, and, yet again, we'll just have to "wait and see." Grr.

On the upside, Adam took me to the doctor's and was wonderful and supportive and made me realize, yet again, how good it is to have someone like him to be able to lean on. I have a hard time asking for things like "hey I'm nervous about the doctor, I'd like your physical presence, will you go with me?" I remember once I had to go to the emergency room when we were first together, and I got my mom to go with me - I'm used to depending on her! It's a funny transition going from her to boyfriend, you know? But Adam did make it very clear that it's both that I *should* ask him of these things, but he really *wants* me to. I can understand that. I love to "be there" for him - it would hurt if I were never given that opportunity.

After the doctors, we had lunch at Souplantation, then I went home, did some work (I was working from home for the rest of that day) and then watched The Office while I knitted. I am working on my fingerless gloves in order to survive my freeeeeezing office.

Tonight is picture night at the karate studio, and I need to do some reading for psychology. Adam is frantically heading to Monterey as I type, and I turned down an invitation to go to Mammoth this weekend in order to see Roxana's show, And Then There Were None.

As far as karate goes - I hit a slump a few months back where I was just not interested. I had to force myself to go, and it took a long time for me to get into it once I was there. I consciously made the decision not to give in to that, and reestablished myself at the studio. Tonight I am testing for my first stripe on my greenblack belt, and I am excited about being excited. I am doing two lessons - one is a right forearm hammer to the back of the neck while stimultaneously kneeing them in the groin. This makes them bend over, and I do a choke on my right side (while making sure my right foot is placed beside theirs), then I plant my right foot behind them, and do a right sweep, which takes them to the floor. Then I do a stomping side kick to their throat with my right foot.

The second lesson I am doing, we both start left side up, they throw a straight punch, I block with my left (upwindmill block), then do a straight one-knuckle punch to their ear. I do a right side kick to their knee, which brings them to their knees. I do a right backhand to their neck, then I do a left upperarm strike to their throat while bringing them in to a four knuckle upper cut to the back of their head, almost in a scooping motion.

I am starting now preparing my lessons for my blackbelt test. These will be the first two I do. I will now never stop doing these lessons.

Friday morning I would like to wake up early enough to go running on the beach, since it's dark by the time I leave work now. Day 2 of the Couch to 5k involves two 8 minute runs. Adam will try to do his while he's camping in Monterey, so I have to make sure I do it before he comes home and wants to run 20 minutes straight.

Alrighty - that's all from me for now. I will miss Adam, but I am also looking forward to not having to negotiate what we watch on tv. :) Romantic comedies and "stupid" tv shows, HERE I COME! ;)