Courtesy Post

I know I haven't been around for a while, so I wanted to pop in and say "Don't worry! I'm Alive still!" But really nothing even remotely new or exciting is going on, so I don't have much to say.

I was sick as a dog last week (bad cold) and was stuck in West Virginia in a hotel room of infection. Ugh it was horrible. I took some time off and slept a lot, and I feel much better now. I'm in Charlotte all week, so I'm trying to get back into my normal routine.

Wake opened their season Saturday with a loss. Great. And in true Wake fashion, they made it appear at the end that we should maintain hope, that they might pull off a win. And then when the time came to pull their shit together, they choked. Hopefully they'll be able to pull off a win on Saturday.

Blake has a number of visitors coming into town on Saturday to see the Panthers/Eagles game on Sunday. This means that I will largely have the weekend to myself because he will be busy with his guests. I have to go back to WV on Sunday (boo) but a little extra down time can only help my recuperation, I assume.

In other news, I leave for Italy in 31 days! Crazy. I should probably make some reservations at the busiest attractions this weekend during my down time. And potentially print out some train schedules. Good times.

That is all. I'm boring.

Shopping success

I don't wear jeans much, because I argue that a t-shirt dress is like 100 times more comfortable. But I felt that I needed some new ones. I usually jean shop at The Gap, because I don't feel like spending $200 on jeans that I'll wear a only a few times a month.

The Gap has a new denim line right now, and I must say, I enjoy them very much. I wound up getting two pairs of Real Straight jeans and a pair of Boyfriend jeans. I wanted skinny jeans, but oh my god they were so tight and uncomfortable I wanted to die. Horrible.

Anyway, I don't have much time right now, but you should all go try some on and check them out. They're currently all $20 off. But know that you shouldn't be upset if you have to try on multiple sizes...in different styles I needed a size 4, 6, and 8 to get them to fit properly. Which is super annoying, but the size isn't as important as the actual fit I suppose.

Boooo shoes, yay coat!

So sadly, the little open toe booties I told you about in the last post did not fit when they arrived. Like AT ALL. My feet were about twice as wide as the shoe. So those had to be returned. It was a sad day, but I feel that with enough shopping, I will be able to find a cute pair of booties. I will just have to do so in person so that they can be tried on.

To cheer myself up, I purchased this DKNY down jacket. First of all, it was originally $260 and I got it for $60, so right away that's a huge score. Second of all, the down jacket that I currently own is just awful for the following reasons:

1. I got it at Abercrombie my freshman year at Wake (read: it's small, and borderline cropped).


2. It is bright baby blue.


3. It has no discernible waistline, and therefore makes me look like a blue marshmallow.

I don't have a lot of need for a down jacket, but I think $60 is an appropriate price for the few late season Wake football games and walking to work during the 3 weeks of winter that necessitate down jackets in Charlotte. And it's not terribly trendy, so I intend to own it for several years. I mean the horrible one lasted for nearly 8 years. So this one should be a staple of my outerwear wardrobe for quite some time.

Nothing else exciting to mention today, so I shall take my leave and update again soon. I'm headed to NJ this weekend, so let the tax-free shopping commence!

An update...involving shopping (of course)

First of all, in response to my last entry, I got on the scale this morning (which wasn't the plan...usually Monday is my weigh-in day) and I have lost 5 pounds since the food logging began. This is ridiculous, as I have been actively trying to lose 5 pounds for months (or probably years) and this is the first time it has actually worked. Score. I realize that the weight loss will slow down a bit now that I've dropped all of my water weight and my metabolism is getting used to the reduced food intake, but I'm pumped nonetheless.

What better way to reward myself then with needless shopping? I've been all over online shopping recently, and Blake is probably going to murder me one of these days as a result of the copious boxes that have been arriving, but whatever. I got this sweater dress for 75% off, which totally kicks ass.

It is going to look really cute with black tights and these shoes, which I had both a 20% off deal and a $20 rewards certificate to use on. Thanks, piperlime.com!

Have a good weekend everyone!

The Food Diary

Subtitle: The Post that Meg will Like

So I've been really good about my food diary situation this week. Once you get past the annoying factor, it's actually really helpful. First of all, I almost can't believe that I've never stuck with this before, because I LOVE budgeting (I'm an accountant after all). I think I've always stopped doing it because I've become so disgusted with my food intake, and I'm afraid that this is going to cause me to become some kind of food and exercise nazi, which I don't really want to do.

But the main benefit, I think, is that it has shown me how vitally important it is for me to get my fat ass to the gym every day. I mean to be able to come in a few hundred calories under what my body has used for the day, I have got to go to the gym - even on my best diet days. And God forbid I want to eat at a restaurant...twice a day working out is essential to break even in most cases. I need to stop doing that.

Anyway, I've been a bit handicapped because I'm not supposed to start lifting again until next week due to my shoulder injury. I did go back to pilates this week and modified my movement to keep my shoulder out of it, and it worked pretty well, so that's good. When I go back to lifting next week, I should be able to get myself at more of a calorie deficit.

The weekend is going to be hard. I typically don't do any working out, and I generally replace my normally low-calorie breakfast and lunch with bagels, so that does not work well. I think I have the motivation to at least do the EA Active game on my Wii for a half hour on each weekend day. That will at least give me a little bit of wiggle room...and might allow me to break even both days, if I'm lucky. So far this week, Monday through Thursday, I am at a 1,774 calorie deficit, Yay! My goal is about 2,000 per week. I know to lose a pound you need to hit 3,500, but I just don't think I can actually maintain that. I'd like to keep my goals reasonable.

I need to get this out there - Wednesday nights, my girls and I go to dinner before line dancing lessons. This week I suggested Moe's. Because, no lie, their website has the best nutritional information ever. You pick what you usually get, and then you can remove stuff that you leave out and add stuff on as you wish and it shows you how the meal changes. It convinced me to get the junior burrito instead of the mega-huge normal one. However, the worst part of the meal is, of course, the chips. The side of chips that you get with your burrito has 375 calories! 375! That's more than the burrito! If I didn't love Moe's queso dip like it was my first born child, I think I would have skipped the chips all together and just gotten the bigger burrito (chicken, no beans, no cheese, lots of grilled veggies. Just like I like it).

Anywho, that's about it for me this week. We're heading to the Def Leppard/Poison concert tomorrow night (hilarious, right?) and I'm already planning ahead for my tailgate food intake. I'll update again soon!

Oh, and I bought these for 50% off recently...they are so cute, I want to cry. They are Puma, and they will be joining me in Italy in October. :)

Shopping, etc.

Hello all!

My back is a lot better now, it's only really sore when I get up in the morning and then it's fine all day. Today, I go back to the gym for some cardio. I will be avoiding lifting and yoga for at least another week so that I can fully heal. I am going back to Pilates tonight to see how everything feels.

Anyway, because I cannot control myself, I have done some shopping recently. Let me start at the beginning. I found Rue La La from Amy's blog. It's this lovely little invite only site that hosts 48 hour sample sales from awesome designers. The stuff is at least 50% off for the most part. I got a Tommy Bahama bathing suit a few months ago for less then half of the normal price and it was glorious. And because I love you all, you can consider yourself invited to join by clicking here. Just a word of advice though - don't dawdle. Sales generally open at 11am and the good stuff sells out FAST...so you have to be on top of your game.

Anyway, I noticed that lululemon athletica was one of the sales that they were hosting, and I've frequently noticed my pilates instructors wearing that label, so I decided to check it out. The prices were good and I got some capri pants. And I received them last week and OH MY GOD THEY ARE AWESOME. They are so comfortable I wish to never wear anything else. I checked out their website, and noted that most of the pants are around $100 full price. FOR GYM PANTS. Which is clearly ridiculous, but you get what you pay for I guess. Anyway, I found the sale section of their site and ordered a couple more pairs of pants...but it would be difficult to convince me to pay full price for anything. Here's a link to the sale "loot" section. Enjoy. And here are some examples of the pants I've ordered and want to live inside of.

Now that I'm going back to the gym, and I know I have to travel again for two weeks in September, it's time to pull my shit under control. I've started a damn food journal today. I know, I know, it's the best way to keep track of what you're doing and it's proven really effective, blah blah blah, but it's kind of annoying. Both because I have to remember to write everything down and because I don't want to really see how much I'm eating some days. But I can definitely suck it up and do it for at least a month. Maybe it'll become habit and then I'll continue it. Who knows. First entry: egg and cheese bagel, 500 calories (I had an extra bagel on hand from the weekend, sue me). Not starting out too well. Ugh.

Of course it's my back!

...and anyone who gets the reference in the title of this post is awesome.

So I woke up Saturday morning feeling like I slept a little weird...like I couldn't move my neck too swiftly in any direction without feeling a shooting pain in my right shoulder blade area. Sunday morning was much of the same. And then the situation escalated on Sunday night to "OH MY GOD SOMEONE KILL ME I CAN BARELY MOVE."

Some Tylenol PM forced me to sleep, but I woke up at 5am yesterday in excruciating pain and needed to wait it out until Urgent Care opened at 8 (damn you, Urgent Care. It's URGENT for God's sake, you should be open by 6). Apparently, I have a severe muscle pull in my right upper back/shoulder area from lifting on Friday. Excellent.

Time to hand down a life lesson: I was all pumped up that I got my fat ass back into my exercise regimen of old last week, going to the gym 4 times, lifting twice, yoga once, pilates twice, but apparently my body wasn't really up for that. I didn't lift especially hard on Friday, but my shoulder apparently would rather be a lazy fatty. And now its wish has come true, because the doctor suggested that I avoid the gym for at least a week (maybe two). UGH. So I guess the moral of the story is to slowly work up to the full workout regimen, don't just start it up out of nowhere.

I have pain killers and muscle relaxers now. But I can't take the muscle relaxers at work, and I have to wait another hour to take my next pain killer and I AM IN PAIN. Work today is going to be AWESOME. I did have a fairly eventful morning though...while I was walking to work (with my damn computer bag), our office manager drove past me and offered me a ride...apparently I was "walking funny." Of course I was. I currently walk like an old lady.