Weekend Recap

I had a great time on Friday night for the "Ladies Night Out".  It was held at a wine bar.  It quickly went downhill after the first sip of vino.  In fact, I had so good of a time that I failed to make it to my 5K.  Ugh.  Thankfully, all of the donations were electronic so the MS Society received them anyhow. 

Still, I felt extreme guilt over missing the walk.  So later in the day I mapped out my own 5K and did that around my neighborhood.  It surprisingly helped the recovery from the hangover too.

Later on Saturday we attended a 30th birthday party for our friend Margie.  We started off the night at a delicious Italian restaurant followed by karaoke at a local bar.  I stayed sober that night and served as the official birthday photographer.  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the birthday girl and myself :(.   But I did manage to get this one:

 Joel also performed a rendition of "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash.  The crowd loved it!

I'm now 2/3 done with my workouts for the week.  Today I tried my latest addition to The Wave workout DVDs, the Rock Solid Buns workout.  I found it to be the easiest to follow along with of all the DVDs I've done (three total).  I'm anxious to feel the affect of this workout later today/tomorrow.  Even after having done the other two DVDs several times now, I still feel sore the day after each one.  I still plan to do a full review on The Wave soon.  

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Weigh In & ANOTHER WWM & Miscellaneous

Another week in the weight loss journey has come and gone, this time affording me a move in the right direction.  During these last few weeks I've been really struggling with staying On Plan, and that has certainly been a reason why I haven't posted as often.  I've been gaining and losing the same 2.5-3 lbs for weeks now.

No one, myself included, wants to hear constant re-declarations of "This is it!" and "It's a new week and I'm going to get my butt back in gear!",  only to find out as the week progresses that I'm not doing so well after all.  I need to refocus and get motivated so I can move past the 30 lbs mark.  I need to go back over the Weight Watchers material to refresh my memory of what I'm supposed to be doing.  I know what this is, but I need to re-read it.  I need to see those words in black/white and "hear" it again. 

What I have been doing well is exercising, which is probably why the weight gain hasn't been more significant.  My weekly activity goal has moved up a day, bringing me to three total days of activity.  Most weeks, I've even went beyond those 3 days thanks to lunchtime walks with Katie and Meghan, and weekend excursions with Joel.   Girls - you really don't even know how much I appreciate our little walks!

Guess what I received two of in the mail this week?  That's right, another Weight Watchers Magazine! 

May/June 2012

I FINALLY contacted customer service about this, but in the meantime you are going to benefit yet again.  The first person to leave a comment below stating that they want it wins!  Just say you want it then drop me an email with your mailing address (thebigweight@hotmail.com).  

This weekend is going to keep me busy between the National MS Walk (there's still time to donate - just click on the button on the right), baby showers and birthday parties, not to mention a wine night with the ladies tonight - I cannot WAIT for that!

I'm going to leave you with this ridiculous picture taken last weekend.  We were in Maryland touring some covered bridges and Joel took this pic of me looking up through the floor boards of the bridge.  I can promise you my hair is not that purple!  It was all lighting!

Have a great weekend!

Shoe Shopping

I had an AWESOME weekend!

The birthday celebration continued!  I had a shoe-shopping date with my friend Margie Friday afternoon.  I've found that as the weight has started to come off, I care more and more about the way I look.  I want to look nice, not just presentable.  I could have a nice outfit on, but then the shoes I've paired with it are all wrong, making the whole ensemble look terrible.

Not anymore!

In very recent history, I've had some amazing luck at Payless with their flats.  This time around, I was in search of sandals for summer, and sandals I did find!

Margie and I both had HUGE success at Payless - so cheap but so cute!  We even bought a few of the same pairs - you cannot deny a great steal in both style and price.

 

Alas, brown was not enough.  I needed silver as well.  I did not, however, need Charles to be munching on the price tag.

A hardcore lover of purple, I had to get these:

they look silver here, but trust me!

I won't deny that I'm going to be using this shoe shopping experience to buy some matching clothes, especially for those yellow numbers.  And yes, when I find something I like, I just tend to buy one in every color.

We later continued our shoe shopping at DSW, where the shoes are again, very cute, but much more pricey.  This time, I was searching for a summer walking shoe.  I walk a lot to/from work and I like to get outside during my lunch hour for a stroll.  My feet tend to regulate the temperature of the rest of my body, and I knew for summertime walking I wanted something a little more substantial than a flip-flop, but not quite as restricting/claustrophobic as a traditional tennis-shoe.

Enter the Barefoot Designs J-41 shoe!

Charles is always there when you don't want him to be!

With the help of Margie's keen shoe-shopping eye, I was able to snag these babies and they are EXACTLY what I was looking for!

As for an end to an already perfect Friday, later on we went to see Titanic 3D with our neighbors.  I love Titanic, but I have to admit that once they hit that iceberg my love for the movie quickly declines.  Even though I KNOW what happens, I'm still on edge for the remainder of it all.  I'm glad we went to see it though - the 3D offered a cool perspective.

Do you ever shop at Payless?  Where is your favorite place to buy cheap, stylish shoes?

Happy 28th Birthday!

Yesterday I celebrated my 28th birthday.  Overall, the day itself was great.  While I did work, I was able to work at home and that helped make the day a little more enjoyable.  I'm trying to conserve my vacation time for an upcoming trip.....one of the wedding-sorts.  To an island.  In the Caribbean.  I cannot wait!

Anyhow, the day started off great from the get-go.  Joel arrived home from work that morning with Starbucks in hand.  He also presented me with my birthday gift right away.

It looks just like regular yellow gold, but it's actually rose gold.  I love rose gold now more than ever, especially because my engagement ring is rose gold, and so are two other pieces of special jewelry I have.  This very same watch was going to be a weight loss reward, so I'll just have to figure out something else to get for that goal instead.  Shouldn't be a problem! :) 

And even though I already met my minimum exercise for the week, I decided to take my lunch hour and do 40 minutes on the elliptical.  Why not start off year 28 with one of the best things I can do for my body and soul?  I'm a member at Gold's, and they sent me a birthday email with a coupon for 25% off an item in their shop and a free bottle of water.  When I signed in yesterday, the computer told me Happy Birthday, which made my day... it truly is all about the little things in life!

blurry pics are the result of taking them while
on the elliptical!

Not to mention, I need all the exercise I can get.  Last week was a great week for me.  This week.....I've consumed so much sugar it's a wonder I haven't had digestive issues as a result.  I'll just leave it at that... I'm sure no one needs an in-depth account of what goes on there! 

Sometimes my self control amazes me.  I could bake batches of cookies, or be around my most favorite foods, and it doesn't bother me one bit.  Other times, this week being one of them, I cannot stop myself from eating.  Why can't just a taste be enough? 

Birthday/Easter cookies I made for work this week

Birthday week also means lots of eating out.  People at work kindly want to take me to lunch, and Joel & I had dinner at our favorite Japanese/Korean restaurant last night.  I'm taking it one meal at a time at this point.  Just because I've been afforded all of these opportunities to eat out, doesn't mean I need to fully indulge and blow it.    

At Chick Fil A the other day, I got a kid's meal. 

This was JUST the right amount of Chick Fil A to satisfy my chicken desires.  A special thank-you to my friend Meghan who shared this strategy with me.  I just assumed if a kid wasn't present, a restaurant would not serve you a kid's meal.  Not the case with our local Chick Fil A, and I'm so grateful that they allow it!

I used to be able to consume the entire spicy chicken meal from our favorite restaurant (mentioned earlier).  However, now I can only eat about half of it.  That's a plus!  So while I haven't been eating the best things this week per se, I'm also not completely blowing it by eating all of it.

The rest of the week will involve even more birthday celebrations: going to see my favorite movie of all time in 3D (Titanic!), shoe shopping with my friend Margie, and a weekend getaway to tour a somewhat-local brewery.  This is going to end up being an awesome week!

Do you know of any other restaurants that allow the purchase of a kid's meal in lieu of the full adult version? 

A Saturday of Fishing

On Saturday Joel and I ventured outdoors so that he could do some fishing, and I some picture taking.  It was another nice weekend here in Virginia.

Joel loves fishing.  I like tagging along to keep him company.  On occasion I have been known to throw a pole into the water, but that's rare :).  Today he was hoping to catch some shad - a breed of fish that are "running" this time of year in the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.  He loves catching them.  In fact, this time last year we were at this very same spot where Joel was literally bringing in one fish after another - it was the craziest fishing experience I've ever had.  By the way, for those who might be concerned, he throws the fish back!

We did a lot of walking around in the woods.  Great hidden exercise!  Sometimes we ran into a few snags though.

And then sometimes there was just plain randomness.  Sand along a creek bank?  Mud I get, but sand?  There was quite a bit of it in this one area...

Joel did end up catching two fish, but he wasn't exactly thrilled about them.

 

Not including this bonus exercise, I have already gotten in my three days of activity this week!  Happy girl to have those shenanigans out of the way :). 

Did you get in any activity this weekend?