Holy Sh**, I need to update!

So lately, I've had like a whirlwind of thoughts in my head, and I haven't blogged a thing. Not that anyone is really all that interested in my life, but I can pretend people are. :)

A few things going on:

• Taking the Capstone for my Masters. Final presentation next Monday night and then I'll officially be done! I'm looking forward to going on a celebratory vacay. I wanted to go to Puerto Rico, but needed to pick something stateside for cost reasons.


• Layoffs happening at work; I won't be affected, but I'm sad one of my coworkers is leaving. :( I've reworked my resume for a more targeted HR role, but I don't know how much it will help. I read SHRMs "LINE" report for Q1 of 2009 - not looking too great. And of the people who *are* getting jobs, they are settling for lower compensation. Guess I should be happy to be employed!


• Trying to keep my weight in check. Have lost 14 pounds in the last 2 months, with hopes of another 8 pounds by graduation day. :) I'm thinking of buying training sessions again.


• I will turn 30 next month! Looking forward to it, but I'm not sure hubs will plan anything big.


• Finished my garden bed finally. Hoping for some great veggies and fruit! This year I planted cucumbers, squash, cantaloupe, basil, parsley, dill, lettuce, arugula, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, green onions, and banana peppers. Nothing beats organic veggies, eh? And the satisfaction of knowing *I* grew it is worth it.


• Bought a coffee table, finally. It's not completely what I wanted, but hey, it's not a bad starter one. Someday, I will have matching furniture. :P It makes more sense to me now why my parents stuff never matched. But I also bought an entry way table and some HUGE (ie, fully mature) indoor plants on-the-cheap!!!! this weekend. LOVE Plant Interscapes. They sell all the plants that were used in rentals/displays, but the plants are still in good condition. I bought a Tarzan plant/tree for $10! And a fully grown peace lilly for $5!! :D

Well, there are other things going on, but those are the ones that pop out in my head the most.

I better get to bed. My schedule was changed (at the request of my managers) so I better get some sleep! I'm going to try to update this thing as much as I updated my LJ back in the day. After next week, I should have the time!

I'll leave you with some pictures I took this weekend of the flowers/plants around my house.

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Sunday update

So the weight loss is not really coming along as planned. The Thanksgiving holiday interrupted my workouts. I was told it takes 21 days to form a habit.. so, I'm STILL just trying to get into it again. I'm just so heavy. This is the heaviest I've been since I've moved to San Antonio and I just don't find it acceptable anymore. Sigh. 21 days. The Nike Challenge is 50 miles by the end of the year. I think I'm around 7 miles into it. Just need to keep up the 3 miles per workout thing. Hopefully I'll attain it.

On top of that, just trying to push along... keep the house in order and get things straightened up in my life. I am going back to the feelings I had when I first came here: I need more friends, specifically girlfriends. I mean, I have friends here... and don't get me wrong, I do love being around them and they are great people. But the bottom line is that they were friends with my husband before they were friends with me. So they are more *his* interests vs. mine. Not saying we don't have common ground, but, that theme holds true for just about all my friends - friends with husband before friends with me. Honestly, there are days I want just a night out with the ladies and I want to go dancing - to a club, not a shitkicker bar. I want someone to go shoe shopping with. Or someone to go take a Saturday cooking class with. Hell, even something crafty that Michael's has going. Or a group of friends that say, "Hey we're going on a Saturday run/walk/bike - come join." Maybe I need to be around people significantly younger than me because we don't have kids and neither do they. I don't know. I also feel like I am really missing my asian element. And the one Korean store we have here is a good 20 miles and 35 minute ride away. When I lived in Lubbock at least my mom would go with... and she had friends to go places with her.

I also feel gipped. I think it would have been fun to go to a Christmas party, but my company can't pull off anything without charging its employees money and hubs company wasn't any better. In fact, they didn't hold anything off-site and the one time we did go to his company event, we paid $50 for crappy ass food and a white elephant gift exchange. (We ended up with ugly ass paintings that we threw away.)

Ugh. Dunno. This probably doesn't make sense. Not sure why I feel like I am in a funk, just do. Maybe San Antonio isn't the place for me. Too bad we just bought a house and I'm committed to school.

Trying weight loss (seriously) again.

For many of you that know me, you know that I have always battled my weight. When I was a child, I was always the fat girl that the guys "made friends with" because I wasn't much of a threat. I was "cool" but not pretty - and heavier than the beautiful, dainty girls.

I'm one of those people that has to consistently work out or I will gain weight no matter what I eat. For the most part, I hate exercise. I was on the tennis team in high school, but doing anything physical for the team was a serious chore. I was excited when I went to college, because I didn't *have* to do anything physical!

As a result, I ballooned - and not just your freshman 15. I gained 40 pounds my freshman year in college. I was a small 12 when I met and began dating my now husband, but a husky 18 at the end of my freshman year. Part of my issue was never having a *real* boyfriend. I wanted to spend time with him. It seemed we ate out just about every night because that was the only time we could actually be together - I lived at home and so did he. We were unwelcome at my parents house and his dad always ate our groceries.

Fast forward 4 years later (2002) to when I graduated. I put on a happy face (because getting a Bachelor's is a very large accomplishment.) But, it was probably one of the most *unhappy* points in my life. The reason? At my absolute heaviest, I broke the scale at 207 pounds. (Wow. I've never admitted my weight to anyone.) But, here I was, about to "start my life" and I'm HUGE. Finding "professional" looking suits was so incredibly depressing. I stuck to wearing all black, semi stretchy dresses and I had "cankles" that I hated showing off when I wore anything that showed skin.

In 2003, I decided enough was enough. My husband (then boyfriend) moved to San Antonio to find a job. I found myself very bored back in Lubbock. All my friends were in Dallas and my love was 400 miles away. I thought I'd surprise him the next time we saw each other by starting an exercise regimen coupled with eating right. My commitment was high - I even went to the gym on Saturday's. It took me about 7 months to lose 50 pounds. I may not have been super skinny, but I was at least happier with my self image. I have hovered at that weight ever since.

So now we're back to today. After nearly 2 years of a rather sporadic workout routine, I'm ready to hop back to it. I have gained 20 pounds since my workout routine died in 2006 due to going to class for my HR Generalist License, then I got engaged so I wedding planned, and now I'm a grad student. I'm tired of feeling "huge" again. And the self image I have is skewed - I picture myself skinner than I really am.

Lately my chief complaint is about working out is, "I am not motivated." Well, after Sunday, I think I got a big push of motivation.

A very good friend of mine, Jennifer Navarrete, signed up to run in the San Antonio Rock 'N Roll half marathon. She didn't do any training (which, may or may not be a good thing); HOWEVER, she did it. It took her longer than other runners, but she was by no means last AND she finished!! I thought on Sunday, "If she can do it *without* training, then I can certainly do it with training!"

Yes, this means, I want to do a half marathon, too! But I'm very out of shape and it will definitely be baby steps. But I did get to the gym tonight. I'm excited to go tomorrow, too. I liked doing the bike today, actually. Feeling the burn actually felt good.

So, wish me luck, guys. I could use support. My ultimate goal this time isn't a certain weight - it's a certain size. I want to be a size 8. Why a size 8? I don't know. It's a single digit and it feels more achievable than a 4. I think it's attainable, even if it takes me a year to get there!

Texas Tech Beats UT, 39 - 33

Having lived in Lubbock most of my life (1986 - 2004), as well as being a graduate of Texas Tech University, I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of my Red Raiders! What a nail-biting game. Tonight proved that the underdog can win and we certainly made history with that extraordinary touchdown at the very end of the game.

Living in a college town, you live and breathe college sports. My family is huge into football, since both my dad, his brothers, and my brother played in high school. Growing up, occasionally my dad would get free tickets to games and we always routed for Tech. All my life, our biggest rivals have been Texas A&M and University of Texas. These were the games that the tickets could cost you nearly $500/piece just to go watch Tech lose. I always thought these two teams viewed us as decent competition, until I moved to South Texas.

After moving to San Antonio, I quickly realized that Texas A&M and University of Texas view us as if they are able to easily swat us away like we are some annoying fly. I never thought we were the buttholes of the Big 12, but since neither of these teams nor the fans have ever given Tech very much credit or respect, I rarely speak up about being a fan in this sea of burnt orange. Anymore it seems as if UT fans just *assume* they will win every game they play, so to them it doesn't matter what I say about my team. One day, as I am getting my hair done, I overheard a girl say how much she "hates Texas Tech."

Well, scoot over, Longhorns. Tonight, we were welcomed into the "Big Times" and you are no longer #1. And we earned every bit of our win. We played skillfully and hard, we played smart, and we did it with a lot of heart! I'm so proud to be a Red Raider tonight.

After our history-making win, I immediately thought about my grandpa. I really wish he were alive to have seen the game. He was a fan of Texas Tech simply because I went there. He lived in DC, but made sure to watch every televised game. Every time our team made national news, he'd mail me a newspaper clipping from the Washington Post. I'm so sorry he didn't get to see this. But maybe he heard me cheering from way down here.

What a win.
And what a night.

Wreck 'Em Tech. GO BIG RED!

My Anniversary!

So I have 9 days until my anniversary - 10/20!! I can't believe a year has passed so quickly! Last year at this time I was getting super antsy. " Just get it over, already" was all I was thinking. One of the girls I worked with had just gotten on the team (at work) and she told me all the stuff to expect. She wasn't a newlywed, but only been married about 3 years. She and her husband also went on a cruise for the honeymoon and she was like, "You're not going to sleep until you get on the boat!" When we got back I told her how right she was.

One thing that I wish I could do this year was go on another cruise. God, that was so much fun!! Since I've been to the Western Caribbean, now I want to go to the Eastern Caribbean. I think all those cruises leave out of Florida, though. Maybe me and Aloe-Ha can plan a vacation on one! Haha... though, we always make plans like, "Next year, we are SO going to Canada!" Or "Next summer, we are so going to Europe!" And, it has yet to happen. Slackers is what we are.

Well let's see what's happened this past year (that I can remember are some "milestones"):

• We both started school up again. I'm in grad school and Scott's finishing up his BFA.


• Scott bought a new car.


• Scott's step-dad passed away.


• Scott turned 31, I turned 29.


• We bought a house, even in this crappy ass economy.


• I sold my Firebird... :( :( :(


• We sold the truck.


• And I keep packing on pounds and he's the same weight. No fair! :P

Ok, so the weight thing isn't a "milestone" but I need to seriously do something about it. I really hate the way I look these days. Someone help hold me accountable! I don't want to be a chubs at Christmas.

Well for reminiscing purposes, here is the Shutterfly album I put up of our honeymoon photos.

Well, that's about it. Have a great Saturday!

Insomnia

Something is in the air and it's messing with my allergies. So much so that I'm horribly dizzy and can't fall asleep. Every time I close my eyes, I feel like I am on a rocking boat. And it's not a relaxing feeling.

I just checked the San Antonio allergy report. Ragweed, Chenopods, and Grass are "Medium-High" today. I think just about every time I've checked the allergy report because I've felt bad, I've seen these three pollens posted. :P

Guess it's just been a crappy evening. I started feeling bad, then went to the restroom only to see FIVE new pimples on my face. I used a new face wash this morning and I am certain my skin didn't like it. It was a trial size, but it's going in the trash! I'm so mad!! I put some Duac on my face (derm medication) to stop any new breakout from occurring. I'll probably use it for the next week or so. Thank God I still have some left.

Well guess I'll watch the rest of Chronicles of Riddick and try to fall asleep.

Nite!

Frozen by "Priorities"

It’s Saturday. The day everyone catches up from the week.

I often find myself with a massive list of things I want to do. Things I usually have on the list are general, like laundry, cleaning the floors or bathrooms, finishing up homework, shopping (both pleasure and necessity), movies, dining out, friends... etc. But I often find it hard to prioritize my list. Things like cleaning clothes and grocery shopping HAVE to get done. But so does my homework. And my other problem: The week usually drains me physically so by the time Saturday rolls around, I’m exhausted and sleepy, even after I wake up. So I end up hastily doing my homework and the house remains a mess. And I’ll go to the grocery store really late on a work night. Or I drop everything and go hang out with my friends because I just need to blow off steam. Not exactly ideal, either... but it's really no different than me sitting on my ass at home not doing anything.

So it boils down to, I need a way to figure out how to get everything done during the week so my weekends can be more relaxing, rather than a time where I'm just tying up loose ends for the week. I am open to ideas on how to tackle this. I read a website once of a lady that kind of gave ideas on how to organize your life and house, I can't remember her name. It was decent, but I really couldn't see myself sticking to any of it. So alas, here I am. The idea of trying to do laundry during the middle of the week isn’t appealing. But, then again, laundry is never an appealing thought.

Also, I need to figure out how to get some more sleep. Going to bed at midnight or later isn’t helping my efforts to reduce stress or lose weight. In fact, I think it’s sabotaging my efforts. My pants are fitting tight these days, so I am hoping to lose some weight before the holidays. I am tired of being chubby. Single digit pants, here I come!

Well, I should go. I would make tonight soup and salad night, but we don't have any lettuce. Poo. So, I guess it's just Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Jalapeno Cornbread I got from Broadway Daily Bread.

http://broadwaydailybread.net/Cornbread.html

Toodles!