mid-month thanks.

As I sit here wallowing in self pity over my slightly higher number on the scale this morning (yes, again. WTF), I come across countless posts in my Reader about what others are thankful for. It is, after all, the month of Thanksgiving (which you know unless you've been living under a rock), so it seems appropriate. So, I've decided to stop being a whiny brat and list the things I'm thankful for. I may not be at goal quite yet, and my hair looks something awful today, but that doesn't mean my life is over. So here are a few things I'm thankful for:

1. My parents. I moved out 3 weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure we're both pretending like it was some awesome decision while (not-so) secretly wishing we still saw each other every day and possibly still lived under one roof. My dad might try to deny this, but trust me - that email from him after not speaking for roughly 36 hours that says 'you never call anymore' would beg to differ. They've been so wonderful this past year (and really the past 26) while I've gotten back on my feet and into the adult world.

2. My boyfriend, who I yelled at this morning for not doing dishes even though there wasn't really time last night, thus projecting my frustrations about my weigh in onto the poor soul. I'm amazed he still loves me, but I'm oh-so-grateful.

3. My health. I know it may not be perfect, but all things considered it's pretty damn good. Sure I may be overweight, but I have normal blood pressure and cholesterol, no diseases or disorders (unless you count my compulsive need to have a dust-free screen on the radio in my car), and I rarely ever get sick. That's nothing to sneeze at (har har).

4. My LTE ladies. We're about to celebrate our two year (!!!) anniversary of the day we all came together as the most awesomely rad support system in the history of the WW message boards. I've met a few of these ladies in real life, and I have to say they're even cooler in person! It's so, so valuable having a support system of people who are going through/have been through the same struggles you're facing. It's equally valuable being able to help people who are where you were at one point, and helping them through based on your past experiences. 

5. My brother. He loves me so much he moved into an apartment in the same complex as me! Now I can continue to get my fix of talking for hours on end about the restaurant world. 

6. The doggies. For making me feel so happy and loves when I'm having even the crappiest of days. They're just bundles of love and fluff!

7. My travel opportunities. I feel like these (especially my year in London) have shaped my life in such a big way. I'm so thankful I've had the chances I have to travel all over the States and Europe (and a little Latin America), and been able to experience so many different cultures. 

8. My childhood. Ok, so maybe this could be lumped in with family, but whatever. My blog! I think how you grow up/are raised has a huge effect on who you turn out to be as an adult. I think my childhood has helped me become someone who appreciates the things they have, who spends (relatively) frugally even if there's money on the table, who has a very comfortable, relaxed relationship with their family but still has respect for them, and puts a high value on sticking to commitments (as much as I hated that one as a kid).

9. My job. Not something to be taken for granted.

10. My readers! Thanks for listening to my ramblings for the past year+ (wow, I'm old). You keep me from  having to talk to myself, and I'm ever so grateful for that.

vacation is sexy, part 2a. vienna, in pictures.

The perfect travel partners: iPad, chocolate and water.

The 5yr old in me made me do it

My first (and only) schnitzel experience. It's like a crispy chicken sandwich, but without the lettuce and tomato.

Down the hill from the hostel, about a 20 minute walk, is where the architecture picks up in beauty.

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture across the street from a statue when said street is a major road and you don't want any cars in the picture? Really hard.

Gardens at the Palace (aka the place where I needed to sit and rest my feet because I had been walking for hours in really cute sandals with absolutely no support. Sneakers be damned!)

The museum I spent hours on my poor feet looking for, which ended up not being what I was actually looking for in the first place. Did you know that Judenplatz (location of Holocaust memorial) and Judisches Museum are two completely different places? I had no idea. That's what I get for not stopping to ask for directions.

Lippizaner Stallions!

Apparently in German, "latte" translates to "shot of espresso with cream on the side"

One of the best croissants (and fried eggs, though you can't see those) ever. Seriously. Also, note the super awesome camera skills! Perspective makes me happy.

coolest.place.ever. This is an open house-type structure in the Museum Quarter with a whole bunch of hammocks open to the public. Pretty sure over half of the pictures I took in Vienna took place here.

I know what "schmuck" means in Yiddish, and Yiddish is part German. Does this really mean what I think it does?

Holocaust memorial. Powerful stuff.

Imagine this picture isn't sideways, because I'm too lazy to rotate it. Street noodles = delish.

Spaetzel! This, I get excited for. We had savory with cheese and onion, and sweet with cinnamon sugar and strawberry.

Fried donut things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

i quit.

Ok, I admit that title might be a bit more attention-grabbing than truth, but the truth is, I'm just plain tired. I'm tired of counting points, and figuring out activity points, and working my ass off or slacking off and seeing the same results either way. I've been tracking everything for the last two months, and exercising at least 4 days every week for almost the same amount of time. I know the scale isn't always entirely truthful, but come on, can't I at least have an overall maintain? It's just not fair.

I decided something over the weekend. As stepping on the scale each day week has gotten increasingly difficult and disappointing, making me want to cry a little more each time,  I realized I needed to change something. Yes, I need to lose weight, and yes, I probably do need the plan to keep me on track in general, but lately my general happiness has been at stake (did someone say steak?) and that's just not flying.

Change #1: I will not step on the scale mid-week. I will only step on the scale Friday mornings, when it's time for weigh-in. I've even toyed with the idea of stepping on the scale but making someone else read it for me, take down the number and not tell me what it is. I'm a bit of a control freak though, so that may or may not happen.

Change #2: I'm making a real, honest-to-god, concerted effort to listen to my hunger signals. Since as long as I can remember, I have been graced with a super speedy chow time, and a mildly slow metabolism. These things do not make a great combination. The result of my quick eating is that my stomach doesn't feel full until about 10-15 minutes after I'm done, by which point I've already eaten too much and feel miserable. Learning to eat slower and really listen to my body has been an ongoing battle, but it has to happen sometime. I can't bring measuring cups to a restaurant and separate out portions. I have to learn to slow down, eat until satisfied, and move on. If I have leftovers, great! I love leftovers. It's not the end of the world if I don't finish my plate.

Change #3: I'm *gasp* not tracking. At least for a week. I want to see how I do. I would really rather not be tied down to a points system for the rest of my life. It's not that the concepts I've learned don't make for a sustainable lifestyle. I've been struggling with this for a while, and I really think it's the tracking specifically that I've had issues with. It's just so draining, after a while. This change is super dependent upon my success with Change #2, because if I don't stop myself from eating too much, then I'll well...eat too much. Pretty simple. This also hinges on my ability to keep up with my exercise routine, which so far has been going really well.

So far, I've been 2 full days without tracking and it feels very freeing. I ate just a little too much last night for dinner, but overall I've been really good. I also went to the gym both Saturday (1hr) and Sunday (40min). I'd really love for this to work out.

Since there aren't really any pictures that go with this post, I'm just going to give y'all a glimpse into Chester's first bath, which he got through with flying colors! And a little flying shampoo. But only a little.

pre-bath. Look how good he is, just sitting there!

 Why are you spraying me down with all this water? What did I ever do to you?

I can't decide if I'm enjoying this. What do you think of my hair-do?

Dry, fluffy Chester! He looks so pretty.

vacation is sexy, part 1 (one).

August marks the month I'm not in one place for more than a few days at a time because I planned all of my vacations within 3 weeks of each other. See, when I was working at the restaurant, I specifically planned my trips so they wouldn't interfere with anybody else's, because I'm selfless and awesome like that. Also (read more so) because there was little to no chance of getting my vacation approved if I tried to take it at the same time as someone who had already put in their request. When I switched jobs, I felt infinitely bad that I had all this vacation planned during the campus' busy season. No one takes vacation in August. Woops. Thankfully, new boss was super understanding since I already had everything planned, so I'm still good to go (yay).

 

Anyhoo. 

Last week was vacation numero uno (one). My family packed up Thursday afternoon and left for five days of lazy relaxing awesomeness at this place:

 

I got a new camera. Can you tell? Infinite excitement! I'm playing with perspectives and focus and whatnot, so you'll probably see a ton more pictures with a ton more awesomeness.

As per usual, the first thing we talked about was what we wanted to do. My response was the same as it has been every.single.time. we've gone to the beach for the last oh, 15 years or so: I want to eat crabs! Seriously, I don't know why they bother asking what I want to do. I'm so predictable. I want to lay around and be lazy, I want to be outside and get a tan, I want to catch up on my sleep and puzzles, and I want to eat crabs. And maybe do some shopping at the outlets. Fantastic. 

Since we all got in at different times Thursday night, there were no plans (the Boyfriend and I arrived around 10pm, my brother and the Girlfriend arrived around 1am). Friday morning my parents and brother played golf, so the Boyfriend was kind enough to drive with the Girlfriend and me down to the outlets for a bit of retail therapy. In my defense, I actually had a couple stores picked out that I needed to go to specifically. We ladies branched out a little (we're girls, it's what we do) and the Boyfriend went to stores better suiting him. I tried not to go overboard (I usually do the bulk of the year's shopping at the beach) since I know I'm going to do some damage in London, but I got a few great things, like this (which I'm so flippin' excited about):

A tiny bright green Kate Spade wallet! I'm totally in love with it. It's tan on the inside and the pockets are polka-dotted! My old wallet still has a special place in my heart, but it needs a break (and a trip to a repair shop). I've actually been eying this thing for about a year now.

 

After shopping we met up with the golfers for a poolside lunch.

 Brohim and Girlfriend

 Mama and Papa Bear

 Yours Truly and Boyfriend

 Sir Puppy Chester. Oh wait. He didn't go to lunch. Can you see how sad he is? It's all in the eye(s)...

Friday night we made a delicious dinner of a warm corn salad (corn, red onion, cherry tomatoes, piquillo peppers, butter and love) and seared ahi tuna. Nom!

 I love these coasters! I also love out of focus backgrounds! They make me feel artsy.

 Tuna marinading in Soy Vey. If you have never tried Soy Vey, go pick some up. Seriously.

While dinner was cooking (or rather, before we started cooking dinner) we snacked on an antipasto platter the Bro put together. Sun-dried tomatoes, two cheeses, two salamis, and gherkins.

 Then it was time to start making dinner! For the corn salad we used roughly this much onion:

 Why yes, this *is* a lame excuse for me to show off my camera skills.

 The final corn dish. Seriously, so good. Make it now.

Saturday was awesome, and kind of set the precedent for the remaining three days. I woke up at my leisure (read: when Chester decided it was time to wake up), putzed around the house for a bit (I probably read outside on the porch for a bit), and then went to the fitness center with the Boyfriend. Until this trip to the Beach House, I had never actually used the fitness center. Exercise on vacation? What's that? Well actually, it was pretty nice. The building is right next to the pool, which meant we could get in a really great workout and then spend the afternoon poolside. Perfection! I ended up doing this all four days from Saturday to Tuesday, and it's a good thing, too! We ate so much food over the course of the trip. Sure, most of it was healthy, but there was just so much of it. Also, chicken quesadillas and french fries from the club restaurant may not actually be considered healthy. 

Saturday night we just grilled a ton of veggies and ate leftover fried chicken (I didn't personally have any chicken with dinner), which was fantastic. Did I mention I ate french fries every day we were there? And still pulled off a loss at yesterday's WI? Booyah.

Sunday the family went to the beach, but I had little to no interest so the Boyfriend and I stayed around the house. We did the gym/pool thing, and went back to the house when everyone was home, in preparation for CRABS!!

 Wait, this is tomato mozzarella caprese!

 Ahhh that's better. CRABS!!! 

Crabs are a wonder food. There's barely any meat in each one, but you have to put so much effort into opening them up and finding the meat that you don't end up eating nearly as much as you would if it was already picked and sitting in front of you (possibly in the form of a crab cake). It's like built-in portion control! I'm not sure what it is about crabs, but it's one of my favorite dinners at the beach. I think it just reminds me so much of the first trips we used to take way back when. It's like, serious childhood throwback. I don't care how much work they are. They're totally worth it.

Monday was more of the same, with more delicious vegetate and seafood to feast on. I almost feel like it's blasphemous to eat any meat other than seafood while at the beach. I mean hello, the water is right there. 

Tuesday was home day. Sadface. As we were taking trips out to the car with our bags, Sasha decided it was time to leave. Sure, we weren't leaving for another 20 to 30 minutes, but she was ready. And when she sets her mind to something, she's really hard to dissuade. Clearly, she's a part of our family. Sasha took one of the open-door-opportunities to run out of the house and stand next to the car. And this is where she waited until we finally decided to listen to her and leave.

Oh you know, I'm just helping load the car! Can we get going please??

 

Overall the trip was fantastic. And I'm not saying "overall" in the way some people do when they mean there were some bad bits thrown in there but generally it was a good time. I mean we had a great time the whole time, in my humble (but not really) opinion. 

Because you probably haven't seen enough pictures, I'll leave you with one more, taken on the drive back. I was sitting in the backseat of my parents' car with the dogs (the Boyfriend had left the night before so he could work the next day. Boo.), and it was just too good to pass up:

Chester decided the most comfortable position for him to sleep in would be resting his head on Sasha's head. I guess all that hair makes for a comfy pillow!