Oatmeal, Part 2.

You guys are the best! Thank you for all the responses about oatmeal. I actually made some this morning after my run! Speaking of my run, it was an "eh" kind of run. I did it, but not without a good amount of walking. I was glad when it was over. I added a hill into my run. The hill I've been avoiding since we moved back up here. And I ran up it once and walked up it once. It. Was. Intense. I don't know if it was the hill that made me so tired and "eh", but it wasn't an awesome run. I'll be repeating W6D2 for sure. Not a bad pace for most of the run portion. 2.84 miles completed.

Okay, now onto the oats. I'd like to try Overnight Oats, but I wanted to just try straight up oats first. I was going to do a peanut butter/banana, but I think I tried that before and didn't like it, so I just stuck with a basic cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Gathering Ingredients.

Oats. Skim milk. Cinnamon Almonds. Bowl. Measuring cup. Sugar.

1/2 c. of oats in the bowl.

1/2 c. of milk in the bowl. I added a splash more.

Ready to be nuked!

... And go!

"Mmm, I'm hungry. Let's have a snack!"

Overflowed. Guess I need a bigger bowl next time.

Ready!

"Oooh! Another add-in!"

Cinnamon Almonds. Peanut Butter. Sugar.

Looks pretty good!

But is it going to be good?

Hmm.

... Um...

It's a winner!

I ate about half of it and was satisfied. I'm gonna head out and do some yoga, then probably finish it up depending on if I'm hungry or not. The oats weren't awesome, but there were eatable. I'll definitely be trying it a bunch more times!

On a side note, Wells Fargo called me back this morning while I was out for my run. I tried to call her back when I got in, but I got the answering machine. I left a message, but she hasn't called yet. It's been over an hour. I think I'm going to call once more now. She didn't say any news, just wanted me to call her back. I don't know what to think. I'll keep you posted!

Update: still haven't heard from Wells Fargo, but I am enjoying my cold, leftover oats better than the warm, fresh oats.

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Do you prefer your oats warm or cold?

Oatmeal.

First of all, thank you for all the kind comments on my last post! Each and every one of them made me smile!

Today has been a lazy day, other than my ravishing (is that the right word?) hunger. I feel like I eat something, I'm stuffed, then 20 minutes later, I'm hungry again! What the heck? I didn't have a chance to work out today, so I don't even have the excuse that I burned some extra calories and need to eat them. Sigh.

I was a nice big sister and took my brother's car to get the tires rotated, then I stopped at the store for the pizza crust for dinner. I really need to start making my own. Someday. Now I'm catching up on blogs and doing laundry. We were really overdue in the laundry department, it was pretty bad.

Anywho, today I need some advice from you dear readers. I want to make some oatmeal. A few months ago, I was adding some of the already packages Quaker oatmeal packets into my breakfast routine. They were okay, but didn't fill me. I see people like Kath eating oatmeal almost daily. I want to like oatmeal and make it in all kinds of cool ways, but I just don't know where to start. All different kinds of oats and how to make them. It's a big mess.

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Tell me about your experiences with oats. What kind do you use? How do you cook them? What kinds of add-ins do you add?

Thank you!

Being Comfortable in your Body.

Running. I'm starting to really love it. I enjoy my time alone, with, ya know, the iPhone and the music and the heart rate monitor, but alone. ;) I love focusing on what my body can do, and how strong my body is. I'm really starting to love my body, accepting my bigger thighs and hopefully, someday, child bearing hips. Accepting my cellulite and my dimpled thighs. It's who I am. Hopefully, I think, my body is shrinking. The scale says so anyways. There are days when I look in the mirror and really like what I see. Knowing that I am taking care of myself and making myself healthier is a wonderful feeling.

This past weekend wasn't as healthy as I would have liked, but a lot of it, I did the best with what I could. I went over my recommended calories both days, but I'm not gonna harp on it and bore you with what I ate. There was ice cream, burgers, not a ton of veggies and pasta. No big deal, moving on. It's a new start and I got up and went for a run this morning. My brother is at nerd camp, oh I mean engineering camp, for the week, so I'm running myself. It's kind of nice to not have to keep up with his pace, although I do miss having someone to talk to.

It was a do-over of Week 6, Day 1. With all the eh food I ate this weekend, I didn't want to have to stop halfway through my run, and I think it was a good plan. 2 miles completed.

Now I have some pictures. I want to be honest with my readers and I've never hid from telling anyone my weight, so now I have some progress pictures. Back in February, I bought some bikinis, hoping that they would motivate me to loose my weight so I could wear them this summer. Well they've been sitting in my closet since I bought them. I had them in the back of my mind, but I'm just so slow at loosing, I don't know that I can wear them this summer. Since I moved back home, though, and really got going on my weight loss, I'm a little more confident.

I haven't taken progress pictures regularly, but if Leah can put herself out there, I can too!

The following 2 pictures are from the beginning of December, roughly 10 pounds ago.

And these 2 are from this morning.

I think a little bit of the love handles/muffing top went away, but other than that, I don't thing the 10 pounds did a whole lot. I'm going to keep going though. And hopefully I'll take some more progress pictures. I'm almost confident to wear a bathing suit. Probably not a bikini, but I'm getting more comfortable in my skin every day!

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Are you comfortable in your skin? How did you get there, or why aren't you?

Scales and Trails.

Rhymes, huh? :)

I'm really bad with coming up with clever post titles, my days are pretty repetitive, so it's nothing new or exciting. Looking for jobs, running, yoga, blogging, reading. Boring life right now.

Anyway, I'm going to start doing Weekly Weigh Ins again. On Fridays. I'm really trying to focus more on how I feel than what the scale tells me, but it's really hard. Now that I've been actually working out and running regularly, I want the scale to show what a great job I'm doing. It's not always working like that, but it is on the right path at least. Since my last official blog WI, I've lost 6 pounds. It's not a ton, but I'm truly accepting the fact that I'm a slow loser. The upside to this is that I know I won't go back to the way I was eating. It's going to be hard to figure out exactly how to maintain, but I'll deal with that when I get there, and probably won't until the end of the year.

My current weight as of this morning is 153. I'm so close to the 140s, I can taste it. I've been in the 150s since January, but there was a TON of maintaining in there. Right now I'm aiming for a goal of 140. We'll evaluate when I get there and see if I want to go lower. I'm not worried about it. Sure, I'd love to be done loosing weight, but I'm just going to focus on being healthy, rather than being attractive. Healthy is what matters.

On the other side of things, my brother and I went for a run this morning. It was an okay run. I thought after my 2 mile run on Wednesday that todays run (run .5, walk .25, run .75, walk .25, run .5) would be cake. Boy was I wrong! I think the root of the problem was that I was running with my brother, who could probably run a 6 minute mile, so he's naturally faster than I am. I try to keep up with him as much as I can, but it's hard. I thought I was just having a bad run day, but when I looked at my pace once we were finished, I ran an 8:30 pace! That's crazy! And I actually kept it up for a little bit, too! So I blame that. Even my walking pace wasn't so bad. By the last 3/4 of a mile or so, I just told Brother to go ahead. I knew I wanted to go slow and he could have sped up.

I walked most of the way home the last little bit, but I'm not ashamed of it. My right arch was bothering me, so I didn't want to get a blister or anything, so I walked. I hope there's nothing wrong with my shoes, I just bought those shoes! All in all, I don't think I'll have to repeat the day, but it was a difficult outing.

Does anyone know how accurate Nike+ GPS is? My brother's said 2.9, and he did go a little farther than me, but I think it would have been more than that. I've been doing all my training runs off this app, and I don't know what I'll do if it's inaccurate...

Do we look alike? I'm not gonna lie, Brother is RIPPED!

When we went down to stick our feet in the water, last week we noticed there were some fish eggs around the steps on our dock. Today there was this...

Last time we saw them they were in a different spot and they were more string-like, so what the heck happened? Do I have any biology people reading my blog?

Have a great weekend!

Interviews & Keys.

On Wednesday, Wells Fargo called me to set up an interview, so we set it up for 9:30 on Thursday. This was hard because it required me to get up before 9am, and I am SO enjoying my summer vacation, or what I'm referring to as my summer vacation. I get up at 7, make my breakfast, get all gussied (is that a word anymore?) up and I'm ready to go. My resume is printed out, I have directions and I leave. Get there, no problem, but I'm a half hour early. I'm playing on my iPhone, it's raining, so I make sure all the windows are up. Before I get out of the car, I make sure all the doors are locked. Do you see where this is going?

I open the door, get out, and as I'm shutting the door... *ding, ding, ding*... Crap! I locked my keys in the car. Now I'm going to an interview, so I can't just let them know how scatter brained I can be and how I locked my keys in the car, although I don't think I've ever locked my keys in the car before. I send my brother a quick text "I locked my keys in the car, you'll have to bring me the spare, don't go anywhere" and head into the interview.

Fail.

In all honesty, I think the interview went well. They're only interviewing 2 other people for the teller position, and I like to think that I answered everything well, I'm personable and I'll get the job, but we'll see. I've never had a sales job before, but I'm not gonna lie, my job at McDonalds helped me more than I ever would have thought possible. I think every teenager should hold a part time job while in HS and/or college. Learn balance and responsibility, be a part of something, even if it is McDonalds. Yeah, it sucks, but it teaches you something.

My brother did come and drop off the spare, even though it was 30 minutes from home, so I took the poor kid (literally) to Panera for lunch as a thank you.

Anywho, I'll be back to my enjoying "summer vacation" and hope that I get a call at the beginning of next week.

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What's your opinion on students having jobs? Did you have one? Where?

Running.

My running is going really well. Yes, I might only be on week 5, but I'm going at my own pace, making sure I've just about mastered each day. Most weeks have turned into at least one a half weeks, or two weeks even. I'm not worried about it. I'm going to get there. It doesn't bother me if this training takes me 18 weeks instead of 9, I'm not in a rush. I might do a 5K in August with my 2 sisters-in-law, but I know I can do it.

Anyways, today was the day. The week 5, day 3 workout - 2 miles. I knew I had done it before, but I was determined to do the whole 2 miles. I wasn't going to wimp out, I could do it. So I got up this morning, fueled up with my PB toast, got dressed and set out. I did my 5 minute warmup walk, and started running. I took a few walking breaks, but I did it! I ran a new route, because I know when I loop past my house, I want to be finished or nearly finished, not only halfway done. I'm slowly finding out new routes around my lake. I refuse to run up or down the GIANT hill to get away from the lake, but I know it's going to have to happen sooner or later, so I do a lot of loops right now.

So I completed it! This is a huge step for me. I'm on the path to a 5K! After the run, I did this.

I was really tempted to go swimming, but I didn't feel like changing into my bathing suit just to jump in the lake. I really should have just jumped in with my shorts and tank on. Sticking my feet in was just as effective.

Woo! I did it!

Excuse the bright red-tomato face. It was HUMID out!

My route and pace.

Honestly, I've been running about a 10:30 pace, and thought I could do it on the 2 mile run, but it was about a 12:30 pace, but I know I can work on pace. For the right now, the biggest accomplishment was that I finished the whole run.

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How did your last good run go?

Finding Out My Path.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a busy day today. Filled with drives to the vet, haircuts, getting new insurance, and meeting with old friends. It was an eventful day. I actually got up at a decent time (7:30), ate breakfast, had Subway for lunch, and I'm making chicken with feta and bacon for dinner. When I met my friend at Dunkin Donuts I got a Coolatta, and I tracked it, but man! That was NOT worth 430 calories. I should have checked the calories before I got to Dunkin. Lesson learned.

Mr. Fozzy on the way to the vet.

And on the way home.

**Warning: Religious Post Ahead! Not a Bible pushing post, but it's definitely a religious one**

While I was talking to Candice at Dunkin Donuts, I got thinking. She is a missionary, following God's path. I respect her in every way and am awed and inspired by her. She's so open to what God wants her to do. She's already spent 3 months in Hawaii being trained to be a missionary, and she's gone to Africa for 3 months to be a missionary. She's going back to Hawaii for more training, and she's going to be working at a school in Harrisburg, training other people to be missionaries. She's hoping to go to Amsterdam, as she really thinks God is leading her to work with sex trafficked women and girls. It's incredible to listen to her stories and the way that God is working in her life.

It really got me thinking about my life and everything that I've done. Sure, I graduated from high school and went to college, but what did that get me? I haven't helped people, I haven't really followed any path that God has set out for me. I don't even really know what that path was.

Both Mr. Skinny and I consider ourselves Christians, and we have been for our entire lives. We may not have prayed together and made decision together with God, but we didn't completely ignore Him or His ways of life. Now that we're back home we'll be going to church on a regular basis, and I really do like my church. I just feel like I need to do more. Like I'm hungering for more. One of the guys I graduated from high school with did the sermon on Sunday at my church, and he really wowed me, too. It's like God is telling me that I need to do something more with my life. Look at these other people, don't just be awed by them, be inspired by them.

Now I'm just trying to figure out what that it. I always thought my passion was kids, having them, teaching them, taking care of them. And I think it truly is. So now, I just have to put that to use. Help out at church with the kid's ministry until I have my own in a few years, God willing. God will lead me to where I'm supposed to go, I have no doubt about that.

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Religious or not, how did you find out what your passion was?

Apology.

I know that I haven't been doing much, and there's really no excuse for me to not blog on a regular basis. I was SO good last week. I had a blog every day from Monday - Friday, and was super proud of myself. And I was packing. And I was working. This week? My schedule is filled with yoga, running, biking and weights. That's it. What the heck?

This week though I have a little bit more going on. Tomorrow I'm hanging out with a friend that I have hung out with in years. I'm pretty excited. I've got to take Mr. Skinny's dog to the vet, he's got swollen back paws. I've also got to figure out our car insurance. When we moved, Allstate completely screwed up our insurance. Note: don't ever call the 1-800 # when dealing with insurance. Go to an insurance agent. Our premium tripled in price. Yeah, so now we have to find new insurance before we can go back to Allstate. It's so screwed up the insurance agent can't even fix it.

My view while I'm doing yoga.

On the job front right now: I had a third interview scheduled for this morning with Bankers Life and Casualty, but I cancelled it. It seems like a good company, but I'm just looking for a job for a few years, I'm honestly not looking for a career and that's what Bankers seemed to be. You can make great money, but it seems like you have to work 50+ hours each week, and I'm not okay with dedicating that much time to a job.

So Mr. Skinny's grandma called me today. Her financial advisor is looking for a part time secretary to help him out with his business. I'm waiting for him to call me right now actually. I just sent him my resume. It would only be 15-20 hours each week, but I could find another part (I just typed party, haha!) time job fairly easily, I think. It was the stress of finding a real, full time job that kind of scared me. We don't need the health insurance, Mr. Skinny's is awesome and free, and with him working so many hours (he worked 60 hours in 5 days!), we can pay our bills with his paycheck. Well minimum payments anyways. So my check would go to extra bills, credit cards, and savings. It's great since we don't have to pay rent. My mom's paying for most of the food, too, so we don't even really have to pitch in for that. It's pretty sweet.

My bff right now, the dog.

So if you are the praying type, pray that I find a job, and that we can work everything out and figure it all out.

Update: Just talked to the financial advisor and he asked me a few questions. He said he's going to digest it all and come up with some more questions and we'll meet later in the week and go over some exercises. I hope this works out. I didn't even think of pulling 2 part time jobs, I was just looking for a full time adult job. If you're the praying type, please pray.

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How did your last job search go?