A long week

Last week was a long, rough week. My mom's dear friend Denise, whom I'd asked you to pray for/send positive energy towards, passed away just over a week ago. I got approval from my boss for a day off to attend the service, so my week pretty much revolved around that--because F and I only have one car, he had to take me to my parents' house on Wednesday night so I could go to the service with them on Thursday, and then he had to come back Thursday night to pick me up. Including our usual Tuesday dinner, I was at my parents' house three nights in a row. Of course the service was difficult too--I'm glad I went, that I was able to support my parents on such a sad day, but it was really draining.

By the end of Friday, I had a sore throat and was feeling worn out, so F and I just stayed in and watched a movie. We had a pretty mellow weekend overall--errands and around-the-house stuff on Saturday, and some hiking in the park on Sunday. It was a good, restful weekend, and I'm feeling much better now.

Movies: We watched "Four Weddings and a Funeral" on Friday night, which I'd never seen before. It was fun! I can't believe I never saw it before. Last night we watched "Milk", and it was excellent. I highly recommend it.

TV: We just finished Disc 2 of Buffy season 2. I'm having so much fun seeing it all over again. Disc 3 starts with the "What's my line" episodes, so the awesomeness of this season is just kicking into gear. After finishing this season, we'll be taking a break from Buffy and starting Six Feet Under, which F loved and which I'd never seen. Very exciting.

I also caught up on LOST last night. ( Read more... )

In fitness news: there hasn't been any, which is about to change

You might remember that I had to give up my gym membership at the end of September. My level of fitness/exercise has dropped off greatly since then. I've also been horrible about yoga lately, and eating badly, and I'm very unhappy with my resulting weight and size. I don't fit in my clothes, and I'm really apprehensive about summer clothes--and you know me, there's nothing I love more than summer clothes, but I can't stand the thought of how I'm going to look in spaghetti straps. It's bad. My arms and shoulders are horrible and my middle is causing real pants problems.

So I made a decision. Now that the weather is finally improving, I can actually take some action to correct this situation. F and I have a friend's wedding to attend at the end of May, so I'm planning to lose ten pounds by then. Keep in mind that I don't own a scale--these will be metaphorical/emotional pounds, pounds that I will consider myself to have lost when last year's clothes fit and I'm not disgusted by my appearance anymore. I remember liking my body. When I lived in Boston, it was actually a pretty great body. I want to get that back.

F is going to help. We started off strong with our hike on Sunday afternoon, and we're planning to add more walks, yoga, and stretching. I bought free weights a few months ago and have hardly used them, so those will be instrumental in getting my arms back from their current jelly-like state. I had a plan a few months ago where I was going to get off the train two stops early and get in a 20-minute walk home, and I'm actually going to start doing that, so that even on non-workout days at least I'll be doing something. We'll be spending more time in the park, too--for now just on weekends, but once the days start getting longer we'll be able to go for an hour or so on weeknights too. There are lots of little trails to explore. I mean, just this weekend we found a huge statue of an Indian that I'd never even seen before. There's so much more to check out!

And we're eating better--we've been working on that for a while, but it's going to continue to improve. Lest ye doubt my resolve, know that I have brought carrot sticks for my snack today. CARROT STICKS. And I have banana chips too. I've switched completely away from using sugar as a sweetener in my tea--now we're using lower-cal, healthier sweeteners like agave nectar and Truvia. Agave nectar is good in EVERYTHING, seriously, it's good on Cheerios and in chai. And there will be more salads, and more vegetables. F can cook green beans like whoa.

I think this is do-able. I suspect that the major things I need to fix are the lack of exercise, and the snacking--most of the meals I eat are pretty good, but I snack on junk, and even when I snack on not-so-junk I still eat too much of it. But, check it out, already my coworkers have brought cookies to the office, and already I did not leap from my seat to get one.

For the lolcat lovers among ye

http://www.nerve.com/CS/blogs/scanner/archive/2008/12/17/fuck-you-penguin-cute-animals-with-mean-captions.aspx

The first picture is the awesomest one ever.