dorkwad and thing-o

Sometimes my baby brother is just too cute for words.

self satisfaction

I'm amazed that he ever leaves the house.

hooters

"Hooters is almost like a family institution," Kevin surmised today. "The breasts are like Mickey ears."

i see nerd people

This is what happens when you work in software for too long...

neandy: me != dog
serena: you = crotch sniffer!
serena: : and stop writing to me in code
neandy: lol++
neandy: if(andy == crotchSniffer) goto coochie

*Sigh* I need to get out more.

why yahoo will never catch gmail

Besides the fact that Gmail has built in chat, Yahoo is annoying in the extreme in that it forces you to upgrade in order to have POP and forwarding. You'd think that with Gmail offering it for free that Yahoo would do so as well.

Bleh. I'm retiring my @yahoo account. They disabled my POP because we no longer subscribe to SBC (or AT&T now), and its annoying checking mail in 4 places.

phase 2, week 4: dance dance & revolution

This week has been consumed with dance, work, dance, cousin, dance, working out and dance. On top of which was some serious emotional housecleaning, and the not-so-insignificant realization that I've reached two of my most personal goals.

Needless to say, its been a little busy :-)

*~*~*~*
Week 4 Stats:

• Weight: 121.4 lbs
• Body Fat: 24.5%

Workouts:

• Mon, 6/19: BOSU, 40 mins
• Tues, 6/20: Kickboxing, 60 mins
• Thurs, Fri, Sat: Dance, about 20 mins each

Accomplishments:

• Emotional housecleaning
• Checked out new gym - sensibly! - by actually using the week pass. Got excited about gym again!
• Went to BOSU and Kickbox classes, and not only didn't die, but lasted through the whole class
• Opened dance show
• Stayed mostly OP, although it was touch and go for a while
• Felt GOOD in my skimpy little dance costume

What a week.

phase 2, week 3 of 8: FINALLY!

This week, I finally...

... switched banks. I HATE US Bank with a passion. After meaning to do it for months, I'm over at WaMu.

... went to the gym for the first time in months. and enjoyed it! I tried out the BOSU class at Club One, and boy, did it kick my ass.

... stayed under 20 points, including the 4 APs I earned. Whoo!

... cleaned out my closet, threw away old clothes and wore a damn skirt.

... posted a new bikini pic :-) Bleh. I feel like I'm going backwards and getting poofier.

*~*~*~*
I took the weekend to clear out my closet and take care of my house and car, and it was totally worth it. There is something to be said about clutter and how it affects your energy. I had all these piles of dirty laundy, clean clothes, old clothes, etc., just piled in and around my closet. I couldn't take it anymore! I also put up my curtains, the shelf, and got a plant. It made me very happy.

I also finally cleaned out the junk in my car. Everything was still sitting in the garbage bag from when my car was nearly impounded a month ago. Not only that, there were all these sweaters that I had used when I was stranded in the rain to clean the windows, wipe the rain, etc. Really really gross. Just clearing that stuff out made me move on from the incidents... Not to mention that I don't feel like I'm driving a junk heap anymore.

These things really helped me to jump start my diet again. So, for my bikini challenge goals for the next 2 weeks, I'm going to (a) seriously stay on plan, and (b) focus on toning! The dance show opens on Friday, and I want to look FIERCE! Hopefully looking good for the show will motivate me enough to get myself into a habit... I must say, I really enjoyed my Club One visit, and hope that the classes I try out for the rest of the week are just as good.

Incidentally, I'm enjoying having the cousin here. Neither of us are stressed out anymore, so its nice to have my little squirt around.

weekend update

Its been a while since I've posted, thanks to funk and fun. Funk was through most of last week, thanks to the not-vacation the week before, sheer and absolute panic about turning 30, failing miserably on the Core plan, and stress in general. Fun, happily, took its place over the weekend and into the week-start.

I had this insane panic attack about turning 30 last week, and it took me a while to
recognize it for what it was. It manifested itself in this "OMG, I'm almost 30 with no prospect of a date" theme, where I ended up believing that I was doomed to be a spinster (does anyone even use that word anymore???). Sounds sort of ridiculous, now that I say it out loud, but what it felt like was, "There's no guys out there for me to meet!" When there were opportunities to meet people, it became, "I don't want to spend the energy to date!" Yes, basically, I was just whining.

Thankfully, I recognized it for what it was for. I started reading this book called Midlife Crisis at Thirty and it literally described just about everything I was feeling. It sounds like a self-help book, but its seriously one of the most insightful books about the changing social pressures for women in Gen X-Y.

Incidentally, even if you're not close to 30, a woman, or having a midlife crisis, I HIGHLY recommend the book. It articulates the conlicting emotions that have arisen in our generation in the aftermath of all the gains that the feminist movement that Baby Boomers made. One of the most interesting (and true) things that the book posits is that instead of fighting "the system" as our mothers did, we assume that its our fault that we feel unsatisfied, and turn things inward.

*~*~*~*
The fun began on Friday evening when Caro and I went to see Beach Blanket Babylon, courtesy of Yelp. The show was hilarious! We headed out to Pink afterwards, but that was less hilarious.

Saturday was consumed with dance rehearsal and cleaning for the BBQ on Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather for the BBQ on Sunday was pretty yucky. We ended up eating indoors, with Eric and I grilling outdoors. Nonetheless, it was great to see friends and host our first housewarming since Caro moved in!

i officially need new clothes

About 9 months ago, I sent out an email to my girlfriends letting them know that I was getting rid of all my size 0 and 2 clothes. "I'm probably never going to fit into them again!" I said. "And I'm not really sure that I even want to."

Somehow - well, mostly because I've been too scared to go out and buy new clothes when I started losing weight - I'm down to a 2ish. Not quite yet, but I'm not done losing weight yet. Yesterday, I dusted off my 28 low rise jeans, and they were a little bit... loose.

Yay! But now I need to go shopping.

phase 2, week 1 or 8: starting over

Starting Core last week was kind of rocky. Even though I carried around my Getting Started Guide, there's a lot of things in there that do not synch up with the actual plan. Sort of made me really annoyed, because I wasted points on things like 1% milk and loin-cut beef. Oh well, week is over - and besides, I was technically on vacation anyway, so I just gave myself a break.

Funnily enough, I feel like I am starting all over again, which I guess was the point of this exercise. I'm printing out menus from WW online, and also taking my Core Allowed Points down week by week so that I can get used to the plan - just like I did when I started Flex all those months ago. Having only 35 points last week when I wasn't used to what food I should eat really made me nervous, and I ended up giving up on it the last few days.

So here's the plan: Rather than start off with 35 FPAs per week, I'm starting with 63. The reasoning: If you are in Maintenance, you get 63 Flex points for Core. I'm obviously still not at goal yet, but I'm losing weight at a faster pace than I anticipated for this phase. I should be clocking in at around 122 - 124 right now, but I'm down to 121.4. So I'll "maintain" while I get used to the plan.

Like what I did with the original Flex plan, I am taking down my FPAs week by week. Every week, I'll go down 7 flexies until I'm at 35. This gives me more room to adjust, ramp up my exercise, and not feel totally dejected and give up. I'm not used to WW blaringly telling me that I'm over points already!

As gvemoment would say, The Plan, Stan:

• Week 2 (6/4 - 6/10): 63 FPAs
• Week 3 (6/11 - 6/17): 56 FPAs
• Week 4 (6/18 - 6/24): 49 FPAs
• Week 5 (6/25 - 7/1): 42 FPAs
• Week 6 (7/2 - 7/8): 35 FPAs
  

If there is anything that I learned from Phase I, its that its better to go a little over plan, rather than try to do it exactly and then give up. I'm hoping that - armed with my new recipes and proper food list - I'll be able to get to plan much sooner than 5 weeks.

Week 1 Stats:

• Weight: 121.8 lbs
• Body Fat: 25.4%

[UPDATE: Measurements]

• Waist: 28"
• Chest: 30"
• Hips: 36"
• Thighs: 20"
• Body Fat lost to date: 3.36 lbs
  

Workouts:

• 5/31 - Cardio Kickbox, 40 mins
• 6/1 - Crunch Body Sculpting, 40 mins
• 6/2 - Hardcore Kickbox Circuit, 40 mins
• 6/4 - Hip Hop Dance, 3 hours

Accomplishments:

• Started, and commited to, Core Plan
• Posted bikini pic up (yikes!)
• Didn't eat emotionally, despite the super-annoyingness of last week
• Recruited roommate to workout at home 3 days a week
• Started the Bikini Challenge, joined by juni, mv, blondeez, jackie18, and Greeneyedgrl77. Who else is in?

*~*~*~*
Week 2 Goals:

• Use less than 63 FPAs this week
• Put together cookbook and shopping list for Core
• Go back to WW meeting - I've missed 2 weeks due to work events and "vaca"
• Workouts:
  - Tues: Upper Body & Abs
  - Wed: Cardio Kickbox
  - Thurs: Dance Class
  - Fri: Spinning
  - Sat: Dance Workshop

Actually, if you think about it, summer is the perfect time to start Core, with all those BBQs and wonderful summer veggies and fruit. So I'm excited... just need to get used to it, and get over the mentality that I'm "on a diet" and "being restricted in what I eat".

brindo the dindle-head

My baby! I miss him already... although I don't miss him peeing on me. (Apparently, only I inspire his incontinence.)

my armpits smell like candy

I left my deodorant in SF, so I had to go to Target and buy some on Tuesday. I found a new Secret one that smells like vanilla. I've been sniffing myself ever since.

"Here, smell my armpit - it smells like candy," I said to Kevin.

"THAT'S THE FIFTH TIME YOU'VE SAID THAT!" he complained.

What?!