College Graduate.

This weekend was filled with memories. Starting with graduation practice on Friday and ending with leaving my old roommate's house last night for her graduation party. It was a blast, packed full with family and friends, crazy busy, but a wonderful weekend. I didn't take a ton of pictures, I'm relying on facebook to get me some pictures that I didn't take, but I'm sure it'll come through, always does.

Friday was practice for both graduation and the baccalaureate service. Then I went shopping for a graduation dress and shoes, and was successful there. Then we headed back to Hood to get ready for Baccalaureate.

at the President's Reception

Best picture ever. I have THE BEST friends!

The in-laws came on Friday night, and we crashed late, but we had to be up super early on Saturday for Strawberry Breakfast - a Hood tradition. Hood's HUGE on traditions, although they are loosing some of them. Before we knew it, we were walking across the stage!

Strawberry Breakfast

Attempting to get ready.

Melissa and I before graduation.

It's blurry, but that's me!

With my diploma!

Mr. Skinny and I. Look at my beautiful flowers!

Friends since freshman year!

After graduation we all went to Macaroni Grill, which was okay. At first, I loved that restaurant, but now, I'm just about done with it. Once we were finished eating, everyone came back to our apartment, and not long after my in-laws left. Then Mr. Skinny and my brother played tennis and we all watched Harry Potter while waiting for the end of the world (not really).

Yesterday we went to visit my cousin and her family. Yay for visiting family! We stopped over at my old roommate's house for her graduation party, and that's were my exciting weekend ends.

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How was your graduation, HS or college?

What'd you do this weekend?

Happy Trails.

When I got home last night it was such a nice day I had to go outside for my C25K training. Actually this whole week has been absolutely beautiful down here. Tomorrow afternoon the rain is supposed to come though, and stay until next week! No lie. I hope it doesn't rain every day though, with Mr. Skinny being in construction, we can't afford that many rain days.

Anyway, I come home and went for a run last night. Well W3D2 of C25K - run 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes and repeat. So I did that no problem, with a 10 minute warm up. I wasn't ready to be done though, so I walked for a total of nearly 3.5 miles.

Not gonna lie, I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm really enjoying myself this time around with C25K. I think because I'm more fit, it works out better. I know what to expect, too. I really want this to be the last time I do this program. I learned my lesson and know that you can't magically keep up your fitness when you don't work on them. I got it, and I'll keep it up.

There was another victory - I wore an outfit I've never worn running before...

I wore shorts!!! I've never wore shorts before when I was running. I thought the "chub rub" was going to be awful, but I wanted to try it out. So I did and it went pretty well. I was a little self conscious at first, then I realized that I shouldn't care. If I was comfortable, then that's all that matters. I put some body glide on my shopping list so that I can wear shorts without worry of chafing when I run this summer.

Finishing up my training for the day! I don't know why I don't really sweat at all, maybe I'm not pushing myself enough? I just don't sweat. I think I might hit up some cardio tonight on my Nike+ app on my iPhone, and I'll do some weights too.

Oh, I'm finished school! I had my last final this morning, so I'm totally done. As long as I passed everything, which I have no doubt that I did, I'll be graduating on May 21st! I went to Walmart after school and grabbed some things, now I am relaxing in front of my TV when I have a list of a ton of stuff I could be doing. Oh well, I can take a 1/2 day off, right?

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How was your last workout?

My week in pictures.

Let's start with Thursday:

Pub Crawl! I didn't get hammered, but I had a good time.

Woo!

And Friday:

Crab Feast!

Monday we had a new addition to the family:

Colton Michael!

Isn't he a doll baby! He's completely opposite of his brother personality wise. He barely makes a peep!

Big brother Isaiah was pretty nervous about why mommy was in a hospital bed and what this new little thing was that was crying. He'll warm up, I'm sure, I hope. Right?

Tuesday was back to school and had me feeling like this:

But now I'm enjoying my last day of undergraduate classes and I feel like this:

I'm going to keep trying to post regularly now since school is wrapping up and I'm graduating (!!!!) in just 17 days. I don't know where these last four years went, but if you find them can you let me know. I would change a few things...

Happy Thursday!

What's going on in my life.

School is almost over. Only 2 finals, 1 paper and 1 assignment is between me and graduation.

I didn't weigh myself today. As per my post last week, I'm not weighing myself until next Wednesday. I feel good, but I know I went over my calories two days in the past week, which is good. I'm focusing more on calories than points, and it's pretty great.

I've been going to the gym regularly again. On Sunday, I went to the gym for 1 1/2 hours, and walked/ran about 5 miles. This movie was on, and even though I'd seen it before, I didn't want to miss it, so I kept going.

I've been doing weights! This is huge for me, and I'm really enjoying them. I'd like to get a few more weights, but the Nike+ app for my iPhone is SUCH a huge help! I can do weights in the comfort of my own home.

My cousin had her baby! I'll be posting a picture later today. It's a boy - Colton Michael and he's precious! I stayed over with her in the hospital on Monday night and I'm having a tough time catching up on my sleep. Oh well, babies are SO worth it. Although this doesn't help my baby fever, but I can spoil her kids until I have my own, right?

I'll keep chugging along though, and keep an eye out for picture update tonight!

I'm alive!

I'm alive, I promise. I've been reading everyone's blog, commenting when I can, but school is taking over my life.

This weekend was a food fail involving pizza, onion rings, Red Lobster and delicious subs. But hey, it happens to the best of us and we learn from it. I got back on track yesterday, and I'm even more on track today. I'm still not sure if I'm going to WI tomorrow, I might wait until next week and see what the scale says. I need a break from the scale, it's owning my life.

This all looks SO good!

I'm finished my huge paper - 17 pages later! And I have a list of what I need to get done before my semester is over. It's a long list, but I'm slowly crossing things off.

Exercising has been pushed aside, too, although yesterday Mr. Skinny and I got out and I started couch-to-5K again, and I'm really hoping I'll stick to it this time. Hopefully, I can work my way up to increasing miles. Hopefully finish a 5K and work up to a 10K, but I'll get there if and when I get there.

I loose weight slowly. And it's okay. I think.

I'm coming to this realization. Yes, I only had ~40 pounds to loose, and I've been on WW for 1 year and only lost 20 pounds, but I can maintain this. I don't think I could gain that weight back. Yes, it might take me another year to loose the rest, but studies show that the slower you loose weight, the less likely you are to gain it back.

And that's okay with me.

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How do you balance stress, exercise, and healthy eating?

Tips would be appreciated!

Lovin'

Wow! Thanks for all the love about my blog title! I didn't realize it was so well liked. I think I'll keep it for now. I must admit, when I thought of it, I thought it was genius and the best title ever. It actually was "The Road to Skinny and Bikinis" but I chopped off that last part when I switched my blog from a WW blog to a real blog. What do you think about that?

Now if I could only find more people to read it...

Anyways, it's another beautiful spring day! I actually ate lunch outside today, and did homework outside! I even wore sandals! First day of the season! Yay! I realized though that I need a pedicure...

I was going to post a picture of my feet, but who really wants to see feet that are in need of a pedicure?

Sorry I'm rambling, but this is my way of procrastinating on doing my senior seminar paper. I actually enjoy doing my paper, it's just knowing that I have to do a 15-20 page paper by Tuesday that makes me want to put it off. I will say though, I know Mr. Skinny will be thrilled when I'm done because it means we can clean up my mess that's been growing since February...

It really is that bad. But I will be done with the draft on Tuesday and then have to wait until I get that back to finalize it. I will graduate!

Happy Thursday!

Are you a procrastinator? How do you deal?

- I don't know how Mr. Skinny deals with me. I'm terrible! I do always get everything done, but I know it's never to the best of my ability.

i gained

Yep, I gained. 1.8 lbs. to be exact. It's not a huge deal, I mean I was on vacation last week, and ate a good amount of food, but I can't help the thoughts running through my mind:

- I walked tons every day.
- I only ate when I was hungry.
- I only had 1 big meal a day, and it was nowhere near what I would have eaten 1 year ago.

I need to cross these negative thoughts out of my mind! One week of gaining isn't going to kill my weight loss journey. It was a vacation, my jeans still fit and it could have been a lot worse.

Back to happy things: Disney World was wonderful! I had such a blast with my momma, we talked the whole time and we took our time, walking a lot, looking a lot and I enjoyed every minute of it. I got 6 free birthday desserts (thank you birthday pin!), wished "Happy Birthday" in no less than 6 different languages, was sung "Happy Birthday" in Italian, got to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and my mom paid for all the vacation, and most of my souveniers! I have nothing to complain about. It was an excellent vacation, and I can't thank my momma enough for taking me. I told her thank you at least 5 times each day and would tell her thank you every night when she was tucking me in. Yes, I just turned 22 and my mom tucked me in when we were on vacation, there ain't nothing wrong with that.

It was relaxing and just what I needed since I was so stressed out. I also got a lot of research done on my huge senior seminar paper I need to write. I'm confident I should be able to successfully do this paper now. My dad is uber excited for me to write this, and I'm pretty pumped, too.

One last thing, since this post isn't all over the place enough; I'm changing my monthly goals to weekly goals (for now). I don't think monthly goals are working very well for me, I start out really motivated at the beginning of the month, and then the month flies by and it's already the end of the month and I have a list of goals that I've failed. I'm going to focus on the smaller things, like tracking and working out rather than big goals like loosing x lbs. and being at x weight by y date. That's not working for me. I was doing really well in January - February until Pop Pop died, then it went wonky. I need a kick in the butt, and by focusing on each day and week instead of month and year.

Sigh. I feel better just writing that. Stayed tuned for some pictures from my trip - I'm at work now and don't have them with me - and my goals for the week of March 23 - 29!

a weekend recap

The plan was to stay OP this weekend, and while I did, my plan changed. My friend didn't come over on Friday night. The truth be told, I told her that Mr. Skinny was sick at work and she might not want to come over. Call me a rotten friend, but we found out Mr. Skinny wasn't working late Friday night, and wasn't working at all on Saturday, so we wanted to have a date night. Some date night, grocery shopping and a Walmart run, oh so fun. That's what happens once you get married I suppose. I still did get Chinese, but I stuck to my original foods that I tracked and was good with that.

Once Mr. Skinny found out that he wasn't working Saturday, we gave my cousin/almost sister the option of coming to our apt. still, or we could go to their house. Of course, we went to their house. Her husband and son are both homebodies and would rather stay home. So we went there yesterday morning, and just got home about an hour ago. We had a good time, made lasagna last night, and I had too much of that. I would have rather have thrown up or had it come out the other end than feel how I felt last night. Oh my word, it was terrible. I haven't felt like that ever, I think, and it was a real eye opener. It showed me that I can't eat that much food anymore, and hopefully taught me not to do it again.

Other than that, I did okay, food wise, this weekend. I roughly tracked what I could, and still have about 20 WPs left, and I haven't even touched my APs yet. Hopefully that means I'll have a good loss this week.

Once my sports bra is finished drying, I'm planning on going to the gym and pounding out a good 4 miles or so on the treadmill. I need to get back into working out on a regular basis. Granted, school is starting this week, and it's going to take me awhile to find a balance between school, work, homework and working out. I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but I'll find it and it'll be okay.

Okay, I'm going to find a way to dry my sports bra faster, I need to get to the gym. I'm nervous for school to start and I think I'm going to take it out on the treadmill.

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How was your weekend? Anything upcoming that you're anxious about?

finally friday!

Honestly, I don't have that much to say today. I made an awesome fettuccine alfredo last night from Cooking Light. I really should start taking pictures of my recipes. The only problem with that is I'm afraid they won't be an interesting because they aren't original recipes. I get my recipes from other places; skinnytaste, WW and Cooking Light, mostly.

Would you like if I did recipe reviews?

Anyhow, I've been busy planning the Disney trip for my momma and I. Oh, and thinking about how the semester starts on Tuesday and I'm so not ready. I need a change. I don't want the semester to start, I'm done with school. It's not even senioritis - I am graduating in May - it's more because this isn't where I want to be right now. I want to be a mom, but I'm not going to rehash that, if you didn't read it, you can read it here.

I know that God has a plan for us, and we'll have kids when He's ready for us to. All I can do it keep saving money to pay off those bills and once we think we're ready to start TTC, then we can, but for right now, I need to stay focused on finding a good job, and finishing my college career with a bang!

My weekend plans? Tonight one of my friends from college is coming to visit and sleeping over. We're getting Chinese. There may or may not be some wine involved there tonight, as well as Disney movies.

Tomorrow my favorite cousin in the world is coming, who is basically my sister. She and her husband and son are coming to stay over. She's the one that's pregnant; she's due in May, right around the time of my finals, haha! I told her she has to wait until finals are over to have the baby. She's having another boy, which I am very excited for, just wishing I could join her in the baby makin' -- but my time will come.

It's going to be a slow day at work today, there's no one here! I'll probably just be stalking the 20's board and everyone's blogs. If you have some fun website, I'd appreciate it today. It's a loooooong way to 4 o'clock.

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What are your weekend plans?

WI wednesday

Yes, I changed it again. The sad, pitiful reason why? I didn't like what I saw on the scale yesterday. I will find a good day to WI. I think I'll keep it on Wednesday now. If I have a terrible weekend, I have 2 days to drink enough water and eat enough fruits/veg to counteract what I can. I should be able to keep some WPs for my weekends if I need them, and honestly, I'm trying to use a few everyday rather than all 49 of them for one meal.

Anyhow, I lost again. Down to 158.6. Not too bad, but not the greatest. Looking back, I'm not sure why it wasn't a better loss. I know, I know, any loss is a good loss, but I didn't eat all my WPs. The only thing is that I didn't get to the gym as much as did the week before. That's this week's goal, to get back to the gym. Even if I only go for 20 minutes, I need to go everyday. And if I don't go to the gym, I can do a yoga video. There is no reason why I can't at least do yoga. I really miss yoga, I need to get back into a habit to go to the yoga classes at my gym. They offer them, why can't I just get myself to go? I think it's the new class jitters. I'm afraid I'll be left out, feel odd, awkward, whatever.

At least the scale is moving the right way, right? And I had a decent loss. I *will* get my butt to the gym today, tomorrow, Friday AND Saturday. No excuses! I *will* get back to earning APs and getting my GHGs in everyday.

On a side note, classes start next Tuesday. Blah. I am not looking forward to them, but it's my last semester, and it shouldn't be too hard. I'd just love to fast forward to when I'm a mommy and I have to take care of my children, and cook and clean - that would be so fantastic.

Happy Hump Day!

WI Friday - Semester's OVER!

I stepped on the scale today and it went down - .2 lbs. I'll take it. Last night before my last final I decided that it would be a good idea to eat macaroni and cheese, and a cheese quesadilla, AND french fries dipped in ketchup/mayo and honey mustard. Oh yes, really smart idea self. It showed on the scale, but I won't complain because I still lost.

Since next week is Christmas (!!!) and the following week is New Years, and I won't be able to WI on Friday. I think I'm going to WI on Thursday morning then. I was toying with the idea of not WI until the Friday after New Years, so 3 weeks from today, but I don't know how smart of an idea that is. I'll keep myself accountable better if I WI every week.

The fall semester of my senior year is over! It's so bizarre, being so close to graduation. Most of my finals went well, I had one so-so final, but that was because I did not pay attention all semester. Trust me, you wouldn't be able to either. The professor is monotone, does a power point, dims the lights, which is basically turning them off, and lets us see the power point. We also get to see the power points, and have a cheat sheet for our midterm and final. Would you pay attention in class? I got an A in one of my classes, and until something goes really wrong with my finals, I'll have all As and Bs this semester!

One thing I'm really excited about is that I can go to the gym regularly again. I'm quite excited about this. I'm going after work today, tomorrow morning, and next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after work. I'll probably skip Thursday and Friday, but hopefully Saturday I can run on my parents treadmill, and maybe Sunday, too. I'm going to earn as many APs as I can to counterbalance my whatever eating on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I still haven't decided if I'm going to track or just stuff my face.

This weekend is our anniversary weekend, well not really, but we're celebrating. I paid for Mr. Skinny to get a massage. He's a construction worker, and he could really use the massage, so that's his anniversary/Christmas present from me! :) Aren't I such a good wife??

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How are you going to handle the holidays?

Finals update & Weekend Plans

Oh yes, it's that time of year - finals time. I took my first final yesterday, Old Testament, and I'm pretty sure I got a really good grade. If I got about a 90 or above, I'll finish the class with an "A" which would be fabulous! Now I'm down to 3 more finals, all tomorrow, and a 4 page paper to write. Ugh. My plan was to leave early from work today and go home, go to the gym quick, and write my paper. I can't wait to this weekend.

Mr. Skinny and I will be married for one year on the 27th, and we're going to Hershey Park this weekend to celebrate our anniversary early. Since our real anniversary isn't on a weekend, and it's Christmas weekend, we'll just go a week early. I'm so excited though, but Mr. Skinny has to work on Saturday, so we won't be going as early as I would have liked. But its still a weekend away. We're going to get dinner and watch a Holiday Musical, go see the lights, and I think on Sunday we'll be going to the park to walk around and see the lights, and maybe ride some rides. I'm pretty excited.

With finals this week, I haven't been going to the gym like I should. I think I'll go Friday after work, and hopefully Saturday morning, too. Starting next week, I might start going to classes after work. I'll be back to full time next week at my job for 5 days, so no more going to the gym first thing in the morning, I'll probably stick to going every day or almost every day, and hopefully in the morning, I'll get up and either do yoga or strength training from Spark People. That's my ideal goal. We'll see how well that works out, considering that it is so cold in the morning.

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What do you do for your anniversary?

WI Friday & update on C25K and SP v. WW

And I'm down! Yay! I'm down 3 lbs. since my WI last Friday, and I'm down 0.6 lbs. since my last real WI. Again, I don't really count last Friday as a "real WI" only because I knew I didn't drink my water, salty foods, TOM, etc. I knew I didn't really gain those 2 lbs. I'm a little bit weary about my goal to be down to 150 by Christmas. I thought 5 lbs/month was totally doable, but when I factor in my usual gain due to TOM, I'm not so sure I can do it. I'll keep trying, of course, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't get to it.

I'm going to try to get more exercise in, too. I still am feeling awesome from my completed day of C25K last night, and I know I need to continue with the program. It's working, I just need to find the time to do it. Over the summer, I got up at 5:30am and did it. That's when it was coolest, and I didn't mind it. Now I still don't mind getting up at 5:30am, but it is so dark! During the summer the sun would start to come up as I was finishing up, but now it's pitch black, and a little bit too cold to run/walk.

With that said, I'm thinking that maybe I could go out in the eveing. Monday and Wednesday preferably, but that always depends on how my homework goes. Tuesday and Thursday I don't need to be at school until about 8:15, so realistically I could get up around 6:30, it would be a little lighter, and do it then. Really, I think the honest answer is that I'm going to have to just work the week and see how it goes. If I know I'll have a lot of homework Wednesday night, then I'll hold off until Thursday morning to go out. If I have time, I'll do it Wednesday evening.

Update on SP vs. WW: I'm still stuck. I know that I need to pick one, tracking on both is driving me up a wall, I think. I tracked all my food on WW and I was perfect on my DP. I tracked the same food on SP and I'm under my calories, fat, carbs, and protein - what the heck? So I picked my favorite snack - an apple and PB and added that in, and I'm perfect on SP, in the range of everything. Now the dilemma: should I track that apple and PB for 6 points on WW? It's a new week, and I have my weeklies that I can use, but that's 6 points - that's a lot of points. Maybe I should just focus on SP and not WW, but I know WW works, and it's so hard!

Who else is having this dilemma? Please tell me I'm not the only one.

It's Hump Day!

I'm pretty happy about this. I did leave work at 11:30 on Monday and I successfully wrote my paper for tomorrow. I had one midterm last night, and it went okay. I have another tomorrow and my professor for the last one decided to do a take home midterm, which I'm kind of bummed about. I was looking forward to being done with midterms and since I don't have any midterms the week after fall break, I'm planning on vegging on the couch all weekend. I know I have some catch up work to do, but that's it.

I'm going to make the hubs his favorite meal - Sicilian meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli smothered in butter. WW friendly? Heck no, but it'll be worth it. He's kind of stressed with our money situation right now, and I'm not helping at all. Hubs does the bills, and I feel like I need to take that over, then maybe it will teach me that we don't have money, and that money doesn't grow on trees, and we don't have a hidden savings somewhere. Then hopefully he won't be as stressed. He's having a hard time at work, too. He's such a hard worker, and the people that the company hires are crap. They're older, sliding from job to job to pay their child support and their divorces and new girlfriends. Chuck's waiting for a foreman title, then I think he's going to look elsewhere for a new job. I pray that he can find one, he's not making enough money for what he's doing, and the company is so tiny and is always on the edge of bankruptcy.

With that, I get to work for the day. I'm eating terrible this week, and I am fully expecting that scale to stay where it was last week or go up. Honestly, I might not weight myself this week and just wait until next week. I'm not feeling it this week, and I think that's okay. Maybe next Mon/Tues while I'm home I can get some good workouts in, maybe go for a walk and jog. I think I like that idea better than weighing myself on Friday, I just get depressed when the scale goes up.

Side note: I was talking to the hubs about eating healthier. His great grandfather died of a heart attack, his grandfather has a terrible heart, his father had a heart attack at 47, and I know who's next in this line.. He keeps saying that he works off all the calories, which he does, he's as thin as a rail, but he's not eating healthy. I'm going to try to help him. I mean he eats vegetables at home for dinner, but that's about it. I've been trying to give him grapes or something in his lunch, but he needs something he can grab and go, and I don't really have good ideas about that. Any suggestions?

Another Weekend Confession

Why, oh why did I eat so much. I have such a bad food hangover I couldn't even run this morning. I ran for only 5 minutes and I walked for 15, it was terrible. I felt like barfing. So now you ask, what did I do that made me feel like this. I ate, and ate some more, oh and I ate even more. We'll start with Saturday. I was pretty good all day, until we went to my cousin Mike's house, who is that fabulous cook I was telling you all about. And he made homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Oh. My. Gosh. It was delicious. Not to mention the fact that spaghetti, anything Italian really, is my weakness. I had two huge bowls, even though I wasn't hungry when I started eating the first bowl. And I finished it off with a nice slice of ice cream cake for his step-daughter's birthday. Felt like garbage yesterday morning when I woke up.

Sunday: I had my oatmeal for breakfast, we went out to the food court for lunch and I got Chinese. I know, not the healthiest option for me, but I haven't had Chinese in quite a while, so I gave in to the craving. I tracked it and moved on. I got home last night and what does the hubs want to do? Go out to eat. Now my lovely husband runs a very tight budget, and for him to say that he wanted to go out to eat, I'm totally going to take advantage of that situation and go out to eat. Where did we go? Buffalo Wild Wings. We had never been there before, so it was an experience. Especially to go to a bar-like atmosphere about 30 minutes outside of DC when there's a Redskins vs. Eagles game on. I think I went partially deaf last night it was so loud in there. I mean, honestly, I didn't eat as much as I could have, but I definitely did not make healthy choices. I had 3, yes 3, glasses of lemonade. There was only 3 different kinds, I had to try them all! I had fried pickles for an appetizer, and I ordered ribs and chicken tenders for my entree. The hubs got wings, so I had two wings, only ate about 1/2 the appetizer, and about 3 ribs, and 1 chicken finger. I did eat all my fries, however, and they were quite terrible, so I ate them all.

I'm not even calculating the points for this one, I'll try to stay within my dailies for the rest of the week and expect to stay the same or gain this weekend. I'll try to step up my "workouts" for the rest of the week and see what happens. I told Chuck this morning to remind me how I felt today the next time we go out to eat. Ugh. And it's raining. I'm leaving work at 11:30 so that I can go home and do homework, which I know is going to turn into doing the dishes and the laundry before I actually do my homework, and I have a speaker that I need to go to tonight, so I can't even do homework all night. This week is going to suck, flat out - 3 midterms, and two papers to write. The only thing that's going to get me through it is that I'll have next Monday and Tuesday off and I can relax and do nothing.

Maybe I should pick up a coffee habit this week...

WI Friday - SV again & October goals

Woo Hoo! I'm so psyched - I'm down another 1.4 lbs. this week which brings me down to 164.4. Yay! I was hoping to see that 164 number on the scale. I'm so glad I've finally figured it out, I just need to track. Yeah, I know it's simple and it's what WW is all about, but it just clicked. I consciously think about what I'm eating and I make sure to get my GHG (good health guidelines) in just about everyday, with the exception of the activity. I've been slacking in that department, but I try to do my weights, crunches and push ups everyday, just for something.

Okay, so let's look at my September goals and see how I did before setting up my October goals:

September Goals:
- Keep up on school - success for the most part. I've started to fall a little bit behind on my reading, but I'm doing better than I normally did, I think.
- Read Bible/pray daily - success again, well half. I've definitely read my Bible, mostly 2x/day, and I'm pretty excited that it's become a normal part of my routine. The praying part is a little bit harder, but I'm still working on it.
- Keep food budget - Success. Other than our trips to Walmart/Costco, I generally stay within my budget for food.
- Be more outgoing - Okay, this is a fail. Since I'm a senior, friends have already been established and I don't think I'll make more friends.
- Be kinder to my hubby - I think this is a kind of success. We still have our disagreements, but I think I'm being a little nicer, I'll keep working on it though.
- Continue jogging - Yep, continued. Not as much as I would have liked to, but I've definitely continued.
- Lift weights - Nope, failed, but I'll keep working
- Push ups - Kind of done. I can do 15 real push ups now :)
- TRACK! - As I've mentioned before, I've discovered the amazingness of tracking everything
- Eat cleaner foods - I like to think that I've done better. I think I have, but I'm still using some processed foods, but my snacks have turned into carrots and dip and bananas rather than chocolate covered pretzel 100 cal. packs.

Overall: not too bad I think. I started the month at 169.2 and ended it today at 164.4 and I think that's pretty awesome. 5lbs. a month is really realistic I think, and if I continue that, I'll be at goal by my birthday in March, which I think is my new goal. 150 by Christmas, and 135 by my birthday. I'll still keep going month by month, though. I don't really know what I want to do once I get to goal. Obviously I don't think I need to keep paying for WW - maybe I'll switch over to Spark People? That'd be free at least. I've been playing around with it, and I really like how it tells you if you're eating enough fat, protein, carbs, calories, etc. rather than just giving you a certain number of points. The only thing I don't like about it, so far, is that I have to transfer all my recipes over to it.

Okay, let's set up some October goals:

Non WW first:
- Continue keeping up on schoolwork. This has to come first. I need good grades to get a good job so I can make better money so that I can have babies quicker! If I think of it like that, maybe I'll actually keep up on my readings and such.
- Keep being kind to Chuck. If he leaves dishes in the sink, don't yell at him for it. Be extra grateful when he does extra chores for me. Don't hold grudges, and forgive as Christ forgives.
- Plan meals and keep a food budget. We just opened a Costco card, so we bought enough snacks for hubs to last a loooong time. I won't have to buy him snacks for quite a while. I just need to cook simple meals with a few ingredients, and it'll be cheaper. Cook leftovers for both him and me for lunches and we're set.
- Read Bible/pray and go to church. As mentioned in my previous post on Monday, we're having troubles going to church. It's so much easier to wake up 5 minutes before Charles Stanley is on and watch it from bed rather than get up, get dressed and drive 25 minutes to church. My goal is to go to church every Sunday in October.

WW goals:
- Continue C25K. If I kept on the program, I should be able to run a 5K by the end of the month. I don't know if I'll be able to continue it that strictly, but I'm sure going to try. I'm on week 5, and I can so finish this by mid November.
- Weights, crunches and push ups daily. That way, even if C25K isn't on my important to do list, I can do these things while watching TV or doing homework, and it's some activity in.
- Track! This is HUGE - as long as I keep tracking and holding myself accountable, I can keep loosing weight. It's easy, and I can do it.
- Get GHGs in everyday. Or at least make an effort to consciously think about what I'm eating.

There you have 'em. I think I'll do a check up around the middle of the month to see how I'm doing. I still can't believe it's October already...

The paper didn't get done

Nope, it did not. I wrote 3 pages of it, but I only wrote that yesterday, so I totally vegged on Saturday and really didn't do much of anything, and I am not ashamed of it. I loved it. Now don't get me wrong, I love being married, but it's nice to have a day once in awhile to relax in your jammies all day and watch what I want to watch on TV, and not have the hubs butt in and want to watch ESPN. It was a great day.

Yesterday we surprisingly went to church. Now I sound like a bad Christian saying that, but since we got married we didn't really find a church. We have one down here, but we go so sparatically that I feel like a bad Christian when we do go because we don't go every Sunday. The reasoning behind that is because we're not home every Sunday, but you can't explain that to a church really. Between my church at home and my cousin's church, we generally go to church just about every Sunday, and if we're home, then we usually just watch Charles Stanley on TV. I know I want to find a church before we have kids, I want my kids to be involved in church, but right now, it's just easier to watch Charles Stanley at home then it is to get up, dressed and drive to church. But we went, and I'm very glad that we went. I think we'll make it a habit to go when we're home.

Another urge of baby fever. This church that we went to, we haven't been there since March, the week before Chuck got a job. This time we go, and there are three, yes, three babies. I could barely pay attention to the sermon because I kept dreaming. After church we went grocery shopping and there were two pregnant ladies checking out behind us. I just couldn't stop staring, I'm totally the creeper that loves pregnant bellies and children of all ages. This is so hard, I was born to be a mom, but I know it's not a smart decision right now, we're not financially ready, we live in a junky apt. People think I'm totally psycho for thinking this way, but I do. We're mature enough, I think, and we've been together for 6 years, we don't have much that we want to do before we have kids. Want to know a secret? Even though I'm on the pill, I secretly pray that it'll fail and I'll get pregnant. I know, it's terrible. That way though, it would truly be God telling me that I should have kids now, and I could tell everyone that this was honestly unplanned, but no. I know, I should have lived in the 1950's.

Anyways, I'll just keep working in school and slowly getting through that so that I can work and we can pay off as much as possible, and then we can have babies! Because that's the whole purpose of my life: to have and raise children.

*Proverbs 31*

Goodbye shin splits - I hope to NEVER meet you again!

Yes! Finally, I believe my shin splints are gone. I think I was just running too fast, so I slowed down, and now that I'm mostly used to running, at least for 5 minutes at a time, my shins don't hurt. This was a huge problem for me! I couldn't walk a mile around the office without getting shin splints. I eventually bought running sneakers, and new arch supports, and eventually, now my shins don't hurt anymore.

I'm still on week 5, Day 1 of C25K. I've been slacking, mostly because I don't like running at 5:30 am anymore; it's too dark, and creepy. I think my parents are going to give me their treadmill, but who knows when we'll be able to get it down to us. I feel so accomplished when I run, it's a great feeling. I feel like I'm working better. I still get winded, but I'm trying, I'm really trying. I usually can't finish that last 5 minutes of running, so I ran 3 minutes of it today. My goal is to do a marathon before I have kids, that's what I want to work up to. I'm hoping to do a few 5Ks and maybe 10K next year and I'll go from there.

I'm getting a little bit anxious about my WI on Friday. I don't know what to expect. I know what I hope for, but I don't know if the scale is going to fall quite as far down as I'd like. I tracked everything, and I still have a few APs left, which, again, is HUGE for me. I'm quite convinced the scale will go down, but we'll see. I feel better, and I think my stomach is shrinking, but we'll see.

On a side note: I finished my paper on Monday! Woo hoo! That was a whole 3 days before it was due! I never do that! And I had my first test of the semester yesterday, which was pretty good, but I know I didn't get an A, and I'm okay with that. I have another paper to do this weekend, which is why we aren't going up to PA for my inlaws get together, which I kind of feel bad, but I told the hubs to go without me, and he won't. He hates making the drive himself, which is understandable, but I feel bad for being the reason why he can't go. Oh well, marriage is about compromising, right?

I'll check in on Friday probably, and see how my WI went.. I'm nervous...

mini pity party

Holy cow, where did September go? It's halfway through the month already! I figured I would look back on my September goals and see where I am. I have a HUGE feeling that I'm failing pretty drastically. I've been feeling down this week, my weight loss has come to a stop, and I know that it's my own fault because I eat whatever every weekend.

I hate school, okay, I don't hate it, but I really don't like it. I've become a stronger Christian since I've been married and going to a very liberal school full time again just annoys me, no one has any values or morals. I'm trying to help my brother find a school and while I'm doing that, I find a school that I *should have* listened to my mom 4 years ago because she told me to go visit it. I *should have* gone there because it would have been awesome, they have a degree in peace and conflict studies! Seriously?! Why, oh why, didn't I listen to my mom. Now don't get me wrong, I've found my three best friends at my current school and wouldn't give them up for the world, but I would have loved to have gone to a Christian school.

Along with baby fever, I don't like going to school with women who think that I'm nuts for wanting to have kids at age 21 and not go back to work ever. I want some Christian friends that understand why I feel that way. On that note, one of my best friends just came back from Germany for a year, and she was opinionated before but now she's ever more opinionated. She really thinks I'm nuts for wanting to have kids, period. I feel like she never takes anyone else's opinion into consideration.

I feel like I need a change. I really wish I could go back in time and go to a Christian college. Then I'm trying to help my brother who wants to go to community college for two years because it's cheap, which is true, but I'm so against staying and home and going to school. I feel like you need to move away and be on your own, become independent and free from your parents. Make mistakes, learn from them. Eat chocolate for dinner every night without your mom telling you to eat your veggies. Student loans are NOT that bad. Yes, it sucks, but if you're smart with how much you take out, and get a work study job, you can do it. I'm trying to see if it really is a good idea for my brother to go to a community college, then I think that I'm trying to live through him to go to the Christian school that I would have loved to go to.

Pity party over, I hope. I need to get out of this funk, take every day at a time and make life a masterpiece.

i missed the hogwarts express again!

It's September first, and that means I've missed the Hogwarts Express again (yes, I know that Hogwarts is NOT real, but a girl can still dream, right?), and I'm stuck in reality, but it's a new month, with new possibilities, a fresh new start.

Another good thing about September is that I can start playing Christmas music. I know that it's only September, but for a girl who had a Christmas themed wedding, I'll play Christmas music as early as I would like, thank you very much! :)

I'm still on my "test" of succeeding at losing weight without WW, and I'm not doing very well. I think it's because I'm eating nuts and PB just about every day, and I know that I'm not eating lower points things to make up for that. I'm pretty sure I'll be facing a gain this week, which is proof that I NEED to count points. I was hoping that I could quit WW and not have to pay, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet.

Balancing school, WW, working and being a wife is hard work. I just can't find that perfect balance that I need in order to succeed this semester. I think I got spoiled because I was only working for the first 8 months of our marriage and I could come home and cuddle with the hubby and watch tv for 4 hours if I wanted. Now, I don't have time to do that, I have reading to do. Chuck knows that, and he's trying to help, but he doesn't understand the amount that I have to read every night to stay on top of things. I have really easy classes, I know I do, and I love that, but I still have to read just about every night.

I think I'll really plan out my meals for next week, including points values, that will be homework in and of itself. I need to lose this weight, my average weekly loss is 0.3 - 0.3! That's terrible! I can plan everything now, and I need to. I'm still doing C25K, generally, every morning, so I know that weight loss will slow down because I'm not exercising as much as I've been since May. So I need to be super consious about my food intake so that I can still lose weight.

Now to go over my goals from August and judge myself on them.

• Harder work ethic - I did okay. I'm not saying I did as well as I would have liked, but I think I'm working more than I was. Granted, some of that could be a result of only working 3x/week and I have to work during those three days to stay on top, but still.
• Better Christian - I like to think that I am, but I'm not. I'm not praying and turning to God as much as I should be. I'm not reading my Bible every day, only when it's convenient.
• More responsible with money - Honestly, I think I succeeded with this. I didn't buy anything for myself unless I needed it. I've kept food shopping as cheap as possible.
• Stick to a budget - Continuing with the last goal, I've done better, but not as good as I should be, I'll continue working on this, especially because we have less money to work with now that I'm in school.
• Continue C25K - Finally, an actual success. I have continued C25K, although I think I'm going to change it up to jogging for a certain length of time, straight up, then walking. I get so tired if I alternate walking and jogging, I'd rather just jog.
• Track weekends - Fail. Seeing as I haven't tracked anything since the beginning of August, this is a MAJOR fail.
• Meet GHGs - Another success. I've been very conscious about what I'm putting in my mouth, and I think this month I'm going to work on eating "cleanly"
• Workout 10x week - Nope, didn't meet this one either. I have made an effort to workout though, and that's more than I could say I did 6 months ago.

All in all, it was a pretty bad month. I started the month at 170.6 and ended it at 169 ish. That's terrible. I don't feel better than I did, and yes, the life changing is very much so sinking in, but I need to show it on the scale, stop eating everything all weekend and indulging in what I want to eat.

Now for September's goals

Non weight loss goals:

• Don't get behind on schoolwork
• Read my Bible and pray daily
• Keep on a food budget
• Be more outgoing, and don't be afraid to talk to people
• Be kinder to my husband, he's doing a lot for me, and sometimes I just take all my stress out on him

WW goals:

• Continue jogging - either C25K or just jogging
• Start weight lifting
• Track, track, track
• Eat cleaner foods. Stick to real food, not food products, even if it means sacrificing points to do so.
• Do pushups daily