a three hour tour.

You can do so many things in three hours.

You could go to a movie...

You could take a nap...

You could eat a six course gourmet meal...

...or you could drive 10 miles home from work in the 8" of snow that accumulated in four hours.

Guess which one I did yesterday?

Now, I have no right to complain. It took the poor boyfriend, along with thousands of other DC metro residents, 6-8hrs to get home last night. And I'd imagine that's just the people who live within a 10-15 mile radius. Someone on the radio last night posed a very good (and terrifying) question: what if we had a real emergency? What if, god forbid, we had to evacuate the city for some reason? Basically, it looks like we're screwed. Sorry, DC! You're not going anywhere.

When I hit the roads just over two hours after the snow started, the plows hadn't even gotten around yet. In a city where 1" shuts us down, this is what we like to call "no bueno" (that's Spanish for "this really sucks!") Because the federal government and many other offices closed early, there were just too many cars on the road by the time it got bad for the plows to get in. My drive home looked something like this:

And it was even worse because there was snow. Like, a million times worse.

By about 10pm, the slush on the roads turned to ice. Thankfully I wasn't on the road at that point, but some family friends of ours were. So they came over (since our house is on their way home), and we had a sleepover! With ice cream and wine! Super fun!

Now it's all sunny out and the weather is like "hey look at me! I'm deceivingly beautiful! This snow isn't harmful, it's just pretty and makes your backyard look like a frosted cupcake! Come play with me!" But I know better. I'm on to you, Mother Nature.

stylish bloggers write two posts in one day.

Apparently, I'm stylish, because close friends Bebe and Jilli(an)/(bean)/(bling)/(blog)/(bride)/(did I miss any?) say so!

So here are the rules: 

1. Post and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself 3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won!

1. Thanks ladies! I feel like this award deserves a shopping trip. Ya know, so I can uphold my title of being stylish. Luckily this weekend miss Bebe and I are hitting the stores for some good ol' retail therapy! Isn't life wonderful?

2. Let's see if I can come up with 7 things...

1. No matter how many electronic gadgets I have, I still tend to resort to sticky notes. I have a bajillion sticky notes plastered all along the bottom of my computer, which, oddly enough, comes with its very own calendar that I could sync with my iPod touch AND my BlackBerry, if I wanted to!

2. I love the smell and feel of new clothes. I feel like I may have mentioned this before, but I can't remember, so I'm going to tell you again. I used to change into new shirts and/or pants before leaving the mall because I was so excited about my purchases! That's pretty much stopped now (possibly due to my increased maturity and patience growing hatred of shopping malls).

3. When I was in kindergarten, I cheated on the school eye exams by memorizing the chart. They didn't figure out that I needed glasses until I started getting really bad headaches around third grade, and my parents took me to a real doctor who showed me a different eye chart for each eye. Bastard.

4. (Continuing off of 3) Because the vision in my right eye was so poor, I had to wear an eye patch every day. If only my parents had pretended I was a pirate, I may have not lied about wearing it while they weren't home. If I had actually worn the dang thing, I wouldn't be wearing glasses today. Curse you, 8yr old self.

5. I miss London, to varying degrees, every day.

6. Most days I regret not pursuing a music degree in college. Some days I talk myself out of it by justifying it with the fact that it's super hard to make it as a musician. But the other days I know I was just lazy and didn't feel like putting forth the effort. Not to toot my own horn or anything (modesty is one of my finer features), but I was good. I'm kicking myself just a wee bit.

7. I really should be going to bed since I have to work in the morning, but I've been staring at my computer screen trying to think of these last two. Hence this one.

3. I'm pretty sure between Jillian and Bebe all the blogs are taken! So I'm just going to refer you to my blog roll over yonder ----------------------------------------------> 

I'm pretty sure it includes all of the blogs I read. Mostly food-related, which I'm sure comes as a shock to all of you. I hope you find something you like!

when i cleaned my room, i found my motivation.

I haven't worked out in over a week. If my shoes had emotions, they would have been silently crying in the corner for days. (Could you imagine if they did? They would probably yell at me on my runs and freak me out a bit). Or maybe they wouldn't have been silently crying, but their sounds would have been muffled by the plethora of clothing on my floor. Once I had cleaned up a bit, it was as if my motivation and energy were restored. I think the state of my room is a good tell for my mood and stress level...although my dad may tell you that it's just a mess regardless.

Ok, I think that's enough personification and passive voice.

With a high of around 25* today, I decided it was as good a time as any to get back out there. I've been making excuses about the weather for weeks, when I know full well I have the appropriate gear for the cold. Today, I sucked it up and geared up:

Pretty Badass, right?

In case anyone is wondering, here's what I've got on: 2 pairs of running tights (one pair of all-weather and one pair of cold gear), a cold gear hoodie under a running jacket, an awesome help-you-breathe mesh face mask, and a knit wide headband to keep my ears warm. That thing is perfect because it shields my ears from the cold air, but it doesn't make my head too hot! The knit is pretty loose so it's super breathable.

Anyhoo, I went out for just sub-2mi today. I know I won't have time tomorrow because of work, but I'll be back out there on Wednesday!

Oh also, I lost .4 this morning. How the hell that happened I have no idea. Apparently I made better choices this week. I'll have to go back through my journal. This week I'm attempting to save my weeklies for the few dine-out meals I already have planned (and the few I'm sure I'll have that aren't planned, as I seem to have a sort of affinity for many restaurant meals each week...). 

fine.

Last week, I got a little overzealous. 

I ate every.single.point.

Granted, I tracked said every.single.point. so I don't feel so guilty, but I still ate said every.single.point.

The result? +.6.

Yeah, it's a baby gain, but it's still in the wrong direction. I knew it was going to happen, but I hoped it wouldn't. I knew I was eating too much at certain meals, but I reeeeally wanted that pizza/french fries/rice/whatever. Apparently, I just had to have it.

 

Now I know. Well, I already knew. But now maybe I'll pay attention and listen to the signals. I need to pound into my head this whole need vs want thing. It's pretty important.

the results are in...

Ding ding ding!

I just realized I haven't posted since writing out my resolutions. I bet y'all are wondering how I'm faring! No? Oh. Well, I'll tell you about it anyway.

Monday WI's:

Week 1: -1.4

Week 2: -.2

Yeah, that second one is pretty minuscule, and most of the time I wouldn't even count that as a loss, but I consider it progress. I had Chinese food Sunday night, didn't track it (ya know, because it was Sunday night), and still came out a little lighter than the previous week. I was really good all week though, so I'm thinking the loss would have been bigger without the high-sodium content in the food.

This week has been interesting. Monday and Tuesday I threw caution to the winds and ate what I was craving. I still tracked everything though, so I know where I stand. Yesterday I was back on plan and I'm feelin' good! I think this could be a good week :)

As for activity, I started a chart to document all of my workouts. It's really sad when I look at the chart and multiple days in a row are empty, so that kind of motivates me to do something just to fill the boxes.

I've also figured out a pretty good system at the restaurant (aka both the love of my life and the bane of my existence): I calculated the points for a couple healthy options, and I'm doing my best to order those for meals most of the time. I can shake them up by adding different veggies (one is a turkey wrap and the other is a veggie wrap), which keeps me interested in eating them! So far it's working. I did have pizza the other day, but I'm still a firm believer in feeding you cravings so you don't OD on food. Apparently on Tuesday I was seriously craving cheese, because I ate pizza and fried mozzarella for lunch, then french onion soup for dinner. And of course someone had to taste the bread and cheese to make sure they weren't poisoned, so I had extra of those. Nothing quite like a good rustic loaf with some tasty gruyere. Nom.

Speaking of food, I'm hungry. And I want a nap. Life is hard.

happy new year, and all that jazz.

Last night, I opened my Google Reader for the first time in almost a week. Apparently I've been busy. The theme of the week was looking back on the year and new years resolutions. I loved reading over everyone's memories and goals, and I'm excited to see how this year turns out. 

 

Today, I'm too lazy to write a lot. Lucky for me, I wrote down some stuff last week that I think can be construed as a new year's resolution. I'm not generally one for making them, because just as I believe you shouldn't only have one day a year to show your significant other you care, there shouldn't be one day a year to start fresh. 

 

Ok maybe they're on different levels. I guess there's just an even break over New Year's to separate yourself from your past, which you may not necessarily feel from say, November 12. But I'm really good at making excuses, so the idea of starting fresh in January just gives me an excuse to wait until January.

So...first week review of switching things up on the plan. It was totally freeing starting on a Monday. I ate a few weekly points almost every day, but overall I only used about 20-25 (I had to estimate a couple things this weekend). I was a little worried about how WI would turn out because I had two New Year's parties this weekend, but I actually lost 1.4 this morning! Mood = ecstatic. I feel more lifestyle-y as opposed to diet-y. I didn't eat too much as a result of feeling restricted by not using my weeklies during the work week, thinking that my body lost better when I didn't use them. Now, I use them in sensible amounts so I don't feel deprived, but I don't feel the urge to go crazy either. 

Anyhoo, I think I'm done. Happy New Year and whatnot!