Highs and Lows

I think I have mentioned here before that about 5 years ago I lost around 30 pounds with Weight Watchers and have pretty much maintained it ever since. There have been a few times where I have gained a few and then I'll lose a few. But pretty much I've stayed pretty solid within 5 lbs. Of course, I wanted to lose more than that over time. But I have always been pretty proud that I have never had any significant weight gain or setbacks.

Until recently. I'm not going to lie, the last 4 months have been just plain awful in regards to my diet and exercise. It's been a complete and total yo-yo ever since my half marathon and I'm not really sure the reason why. Last night I laid in bed trying to analyze what has gone wrong. I feel so LOST. What reason has led to these sudden feelings of loss of control lately? Why do I feel like I'm spinning? EVERY WEEK I tell myself it's "time to start over" and every week I fail. And every Monday I feel horrible. This morning, I feel worse than I have felt in 5 years, physically. It's a low point for me for sure. I haven't stepped on the scales in weeks, but I'm pretty sure that I've gained at least 10 lbs since November. My pants tell the real truth. They are TIGHT. I also feel sluggish. Tired all the time. Cranky. And quite frankly, I'm angry with myself. I ran a HALF MARATHON in November and it's led to this??? Sigh.

My office is another problem, although I cannot blame it on them. We have food in our office CONSTANTLY. Cakes, pies, muffins, donuts, casseroles, pizza, etc. It's always there. So hard to resist. Not impossible. But when you are feeling out of control, it's hard to resist sometimes.  For example, I came in to work this morning and this was on my desk:

Torture.

I thank the Lord that I have today to start over and do better. And have told my family about my struggles and they are planning to encourage and help me get back on track and focused. I hope I can figure out what is going on with me and why I struggle so much lately.

Have any of you ever had a moment like this? Where you  had a serious low point and you turned it around? Any advice is welcome, because I sure do need some inspiration right now.

Meanwhile, I'll be the one at the lunch table. Eating a salad...

Brain Dump

Whenever I go to post a blog and then scrap it because I think of something else - and then I scrap it for again something else, I know...it's just time to do a BRAIN DUMP.

I am not a Catholic but I am participating in Lent this year. I thought about giving up sweets but my birthday is next month and quite frankly, I MUST have cake. Then I thought about giving up social media, but quite frankly, I NEED my twitter. Just kidding, I really don't. But I do get a lot of my daily news from twitter and I keep up with long distance family through facebook. So ... I gave up my snooze button. Today was Day 1 and it wasn't pretty.  I am a snooze-a-holic and have been known to snooze for up to an hour. Ridic. I know. But I will admit, the extra time in the morning puts me in a better mood and I made it to work without having to pray for all green lights on the way. Wish me luck!

If you have frizzy wavy hair like mine, go out and buy some of this stuff. I am loving it. It is supposed to be a flat iron spray, but I also use it when I curl my hair with the curling iron. My hair is so soft after I use it and it smells great to boot.

I did a really quick flat ironing job this morning so it's not perfect. But normally it looks a little bit like this after I blow dry: 

 After:

If you haven't seen The Descendants yet, I highly recommend it. It's that good. Clooney is perfection as always. And the child actors in the movie are REALLY good. I was so impressed. Warning: Take Kleenex.

Last but not least, I am going to court tomorrow with my friend to officially dissolve her 17 year marriage.  It will not be an easy day. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Wishing you all a good hair weekend.
xo

TGIF

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!!! I leave you with some of my favorite DYACs.

Oh Valentine's Day - we meet again

Oh the joys of being single on Valentine's Day.  My day started out with a few laughs from my single friends. "Stay away from Facebook today." "Happy Single Awareness Day!"  "Happy FML Day!" Or my favorite, "I'm wearing black today." I was rolling before 8 AM.

Despite not being a big fan of this day, my Valentine's Day yesterday was quite frankly awesome. I got several sweet Valentine's. One friend hand delivered me some chocolate, balloons and a stuffed animal to my work! I also got several cards, chocolate galore and I definitely went to bed smiling and feeling loved. Pretty sure I have the best friends and family ever.

I was thinking back yesterday about my first Valentine's Day with my ex (the notorious Mr. P) and I shuddered. Remember the first Valentine's Day when you are dating someone? You try not to get your hopes up but deep down you are hoping he'll do something special for you. I remember wondering if he was going to make plans for us, and finally that afternoon I called him. He said "Oh I never made any plans, I forgot. Sorry! Whatever you want to do is fine." I was crushed but of course  I frantically called around trying to find a place that still had reservations available. Also, I had bought him a small present and a sweet card. He had neither for me and was again "so very sorry - work, blah, blah." Pathetic. No flowers. No chocolate. No dinner plans. Just....hurt feelings. Not exactly what any girl wants on that day. Looking back I am embarrassed about all of the excuses I made for him. I'm sure my friends were shaking their heads. 

Let's be honest. Men are not usually big fans of Valentine's Day.  But if a man truly cares about you, he'll make that day special for you no matter what. He'll make an effort because he wants to make you happy.  I learned that lesson the hard way.

So single gals, our favorite day of the year is now behind us. And if you'll excuse me, I must get back to my new love, Russell...

HOORAH IT'S MONDAYYYYY

Did I make you excited it's Monday? No?  Me either.

So let's start with my roasting of brussel sprouts last night. NO ME GUSTA! I gave it my best boyscout effort though. I bought some brussel sprouts at Trader Joe's and broiled them. They were seasoned with sea salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic and I toasted those bad boys for about 20 minutes on 400 degrees. I kid you not, I took one bite and spit it out. I'm so mature. I felt bad, like I hurt the brussel spout's feelings. But we just can't be friends. Sorry little green buddies. But...don't just take it from me. Try it yourself and let me know what YOU think.

Uh huh. Looks delicious doesn't it? Don't let it fool ya...

picture courtesy of: http://whiteonricecouple.com/gardening/roasted-brussels-sprouts-balsamic-vinegar/

Speaking of Trader Joe's, the one I visited this weekend was in Charleston. I'm going to need y'all to hurry up and put us one in Columbia. Mkay?

So, I've been talking about getting my CWP (concealed weapons permit) for what seems like ages and so I asked a friend of mine to go shooting with me last weekend so I could get some practice. Her husband let me use his Glock 9mm and I must say - I really liked it. I might get one a little smaller so that it fits my palm better. But I can't wait to get my own. I wanted one in pink but can you believe it costs $100 extra to get it in pink? No ma'am. The shooting range by my house has a ladies night, so think we're going to start practicing a good bit. And PS If you are planning to visit me, don't sneak up on me in the middle of the night. I've been told I'm a pretty good shot so...you've been warned.

Last but not least, an update on my "unplugging" from the post below. I did pretty well this weekend. But I leave you with this picture of my friends at lunch on Saturday. Clearly, this is my wolf pack...

Social Media is a thief

A few months ago I was at my parent's house on Sunday afternoon. My mom was chatting away to me and I was doing what I do best: scrolling through Twitter on my phone. Sad yet true. After a few minutes, I looked up and it dawned on me. I had NO CLUE what she had just said. Whatsoever.  I claim that family time is important to me, and yet here I was stealing valuable time away from my family. My mom turns 70 years old this year. My time with her is precious. I never want to look back on our time together and realize I had spent most of it on my phone. Scrolling Twitter.

But...my family is just as guilty. When we were at the beach a few weeks ago, my mom walked into the room and started laughing. Me and both of my aunts were all sitting side by side on a couch and yep, you guessed it. On our iPhone. Two of us were checking Twitter (my 66 yr old aunt! on Twitter!) and the other was looking at face book. Oh my how times have changed. 

When my friends and I were visiting NYC, me and one of my friends were constantly taking pictures and then uploading them to Facebook or Twitter. Or Instagram. Whatever. We were either looking up taking a photo, or looking down posting them. Her sister wasn't doing this, and made the comment that if you spend your entire trip taking photos, you aren't experiencing the moments. You are just trying to capture them.

I know I'm not the only one who does this. The other day when I was out to said brunch below, a girl came up to me and asked me to take a pic of her and her boyfriend. They got together and acted all lovey-dovey for the photo. After I took the picture, I watched her sit down and proceed to (I'm assuming) do the same thing that we all do - upload it to Facebook. Her and her boyfriend were both on their iPhone, and didn't even look up at each other for at least another 10-15 minutes. No communicating at all. Just...Facebooking. Go out to any restaurant and look at everyone sitting up at the bar. You'll see a bunch of people who used to talk to each other, now looking at their phones.

The bottom line is that social media is stealing my time. It's taking huge chunks out of my life. Out of my experiences. It's taking over my life. And I really want to stop it.

But it's hard. It's not just social media, like Facebook and Twitter, sucking my time. I log my food into my iPhone on my fitness pal. As I mentioned earlier, I play Words with Friends. I use the Notes app to keep grocery lists. I use Nike Plus to log my runs. I check email, pinterest, and pay my bills on my iPhone. And then there is the normal phone stuff like texting. I can't lie..this may or may not be me more than a few times....

My goal for the next month or so is to stay off my phone when I'm out with friends or family. Conversate more. Tweet less. Pay attention when someone is talking to me. Unplug. Live my life. Because these moments are going by faster than ever before. Because at the end of the day, I don't want my life defined by a status update on Facebook.

"Oh No You Didn't"

Some of you heard me rant about this on twitter, so sorry if you this is a "stop me if you've heard this before" moment for you.

Sunday morning my friends and I went to our very favorite local brunch spot. I love Sunday morning brunch, also known as the time of day I'm supposed to be in church but I'm stuffing my face instead. I know.

This place is very busy. Very popular with the locals. And if you don't get there early, you are guaranteed to be waiting for a table. So we put our names on the list and we waited. Patiently. Finally, our names were called and we were seated. About 10 minutes later, a waitress finally shows up to take our coffee orders. We waited again for our coffee. Patiently. Then we placed our order and waited on our food. Patiently. Let's just say, we do a lot of waiting at this place. But we know the end result is worth the wait. It always is. And it was.

The food came, we demolished it in about 5-10 minutes. The check arrives very soon after. We pay and I'm considering asking for a refill on my coffee. The waitress brings our change back, starts cleaning up our table and as I'm about to ask for my refill then says:"I'm sorry but people are waiting for your table..."

I'm sorry, what?? I know they waited. SO DID WE. A LOT. And as soon as we pay, you kick us out? I understand if we had lingered for a long time. I understand it was busy and they want to turn tables. I get it. Of course. But we hadn't lingered. I was literally still slurping my coffee. After when we walked out, my friend looked at me and said "did that just happen?" Sadly, it did.

Even though we left with a sour taste in our mouth, we still love the place and we'll be back. The food is that good. And I won't let one bad server spoil it for me.  And yes, I emailed the owner and told him about it. He needs to know that that is a HUGE no-no.

Have you ever had a bad restaurant experience? One that made you email or call the manager/owner?

Dear Uncle Sam,

The answer is the same as every year, asshole. Now where's my refund so I can afford my Match.com membership?