Monday, December 31, 2007

Ringing in the new year (or not)

Two days in a row, hey I might be serious about this whole posting thing. I did work out today, ate well, and I am headed to bed shortly. I have never been much for New Year's Eve parties, I don't really drink much at all, maybe a glass of wine every two months or so and I hate driving on nights like tonight. I can't imagine something less fun to do than to be out on the roads with a bunch of potentially drunk drivers. So normally, I spend New Year's Eve very quietly at home, and tomorrow I will probably be up early to work out and avoid the crowds in the workout room at my apartment complex. So, if you are out on the roads, be safe and I will see you in the new year.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

My List

New Year's eve is typically the time of resolutions and lists, of looking at the previous year and taking stock. Lets be honest people, 2007 was pretty craptastic for me, oh there were good bits, but lordy was there a lot of crap. Hence the reason I only posted six times over the course of the entire year. Yep, six posts total, go me. So what did I accomplish? Well, I got a new job after a year long search, moved, and began paying down a massive debt load accumulated while unemployed and in law school. Weight loss, well not so much, healthy eating, well not so much. I'm working on that (I swear) okay I had cereal for dinner but I am still working on it. So this year, I am making a list, of what I want to accomplish in 2008 which hopefully will be less craptastic. It is a short list but then there are only two really major goals I have at this point. 1. Get healthy, really healthy. I work out but I don't work out as much as I should, and I need to work on my eating habits. The fridge is stocked with healthy food, and the parental units have offered to pay for a personal trainer so I am going to be finding one of those as well. Note, I am not resolving to lose weight this year, it makes me crazy, and I am beyond the point where that makes sense. I am just resolving to not eat crap anymore. No sugar, minimal carbs, just simple good food. Food that does not make me crash at noon or stay up until 2 am. I am also working on my stress eating, I have a high stress job (some days) and that means I reach for sugar and that must stop for good. 2. Pay off all my credit card debit, I'm halfway there, I should have that paid off by my 31st birthday in July. I'm not resolving to pay off all my student loan debt this year, because that is not possible. My goal is to pay off my student loan debt by the time I am 35 years old. 3. Write here once a week, I do better when I am accountable and this blog is a good way to be accountable for all of my goals. I am not sure I will manange more than once a week but that is a start. So, tomorrow (which is a work holiday) I will get up and work out, and look forward to the new year. It is a clean start and I am ready for a new begining. So, I'll be seeing you in 2008 (I promise).

Monday, May 28, 2007

Leaving on a Jet Plane again

So, tomorrow I hop on a plane and head out to my new job. My cat will follow in a few months as will some of my stuff. Everything is packed, from boxes to suitcases. I tentatively have an apartment (just waiting on criminal background check results), I have a new cell phone and work clothes. Since 2003, this is approximately the 7th time I have moved, the longest I have lived anywhere it the last four years was on my little island and I was there for almost exactly two years. I would like to be in one place for longer than two years because this is begining to wear me out. I will say that I am not sure that where I am moving will be that place, I hope it is but I am not convinced at this point. I expect to be in my new job for a minimum of three years but more than that I cannot say right now. Hopefully it will be great. I don't expect I will be online very much for the next couple of weeks, it is going to be really hectic for awhile with moving and settling into a new job. However, I am so grateful to have a new job, and a place to live that is my own. So, I'm off and I will be back when time permits.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Aack

You know, for a trial lawyer, I don't handle stress particularly well. I am a worrier of the highest order first of all, so I come up with all sorts of horrible scenarios of what could go wrong along the way. 9 times out of 10, nothing goes wrong but I am a worrier. So having to move within 1 week is making me go insane. This week alone, I have changed my car insurance, hopefully rented an apartment (waiting for final approval on that i.e. the credit check), rented a car, gotten a hotel room, I am in the midst of completing my continuing legal education requirements for this year (will be done by Monday), started packing, figured out where to buy a bed in the new location, and a few other things. Doing all of this long distance makes me nervous, moving makes me nervous and so on and so forth. So I am stressed and not sleeping well and not eating well or exercising enough. However, this will pass I know it will and just have to keep saying that to myself for right now.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Oh look I have a blog, who knew

So, I'm back, maybe. Don't get all excited because it may not last. Anyway, I am moving again, finally I have a new job and it is in the mainland U.S. Yay. I am also using this as an opportunity to get back on that whole diet and workout path that I have been avoiding. Is it bad that my two apartment requirements are pet friendly and a fitness center? Anyway, I start the new job in two weeks, providing that I can get everything organized that quickly and hopefully will be around more now that I have a job and things to talk about. So far today, I have hunted apartments, made phonecalls to clear some lawyer registration stuff, and started looking for moving companies. Oh, and managed a 30 minute run and another 30 minute walk. Good stuff, we will see how it goes from here on out.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Time warps

Sometimes, you stumble across funny things. I have kept a diary over the years on and off (well multiple diaries if we are being precise). I have also made so many attempts at weight loss that it is not funny. My favorite stat at one point was that most people will make as many as 11 or more attempts to lose weight before being successful (if they are successful at that point). It makes the point that this whole process is not easy. Anyway, I found a food journal from 2001 when I was in law school. I apparently notated my food for the month of January. Oh it was frightening. I also noted in the journal that I weighed 245 lbs at the time. I give you one example of what I was apparently doing back then: Exercise 20 situps. Brunch: 1 piece of french toast with 1/4 pat butter, hash browns with ketchup, 2 breakfast burritos, 3 glasses of milk. Dinner : apple sauce, fruit salad, white hard boiled egg, salad, 2 glasses of milk. I will now contrast this with what I did yesterday. Exercise: 45 situps, 2 hours and 15 minutes on the treadmill but I thought I was slacking (getting ankle twinges again) Breakfast: A frozen banana, 1/2 cu. 1 percent milk, and a light yogurt (approx. 90 calories) blended into a smoothie. Snack: Frozen grapes, two bunches Lunch: Pita bread filled with lettuce and tuna fish, onion and light mayo 3 cups of coffee and a lot of tea Snack: small pita bread with some jam and a touch of butter, more frozen grapes Dinner: Pita bread with tomatos and light mayo on one side and tuna fish on the other. A light yogurt with walnuts. This was a lot of food for me, I was feeling vaguely guilty about it. Especially the pita with jam and butter, not a healthy snack as it should have been. However, I was struck by how much more balanced my meals are now, there is a lot more protein in my diet and a lot more fruit and vegetables. My old journal varies between meals like the one posted above, and days where I ate 4 rice cakes for dinner and salad with nothing in it. It is a reminder of how disordered my eating patterns were at the time. I struggle still with food, but not to this extreme. That is progress, and sometimes we just need to be reminded that we have made progress on this long journey. Maybe that is what time warps and old journals are for in the end.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Err, exercise, hmm.

I sort of exercised today. I sauntered along on the treadmill for 90 minutes this morning. I am thinking I will head out now and do a little more cardio, hopefully some running because I really need to make my heart do some actual work and I have not done that lately. Food has been okay, but I know that I am stressed about the non-job situation and that is messing with my eating (stress always messes up my eating). Thus, since I am hungry right now, I am going to combat it with working out. Oh, and I might get on the scale and see how bad the damage from the last month (i.e. Christmas) is, since I have not gotten on a scale in forever. I sense this will be bad. I will let you know how it goes, I swear. Okay, I am off to go visit the treadmill and attempt to be motivated, and maybe get rid of the stress headache from looking at job postings all morning and finding nothing I am qualified for in the least (pity I am not a patent attorney).

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Oh right blogging

Well, I see I have finally been called out on my extended blogging absence (thanks Becky, nice to see you are back too). I Have been fighting off problematic aches and pains in my ankles in my long silence (but still working out which is a plus). Still, job hunting, pickings have been a bit slim. The scale is steadfastly not moving, then again there was that whole thing we call Christmas and less than stellar eating. I am still working on it, and have been getting back on track in the new year. Mostly, I trying to figure out whether or not to keep running given I develop ankle pains especially in my "bad" ankle. This goes back to falling down a flight of stairs as a teenager and then stupidly walking on a swollen ankle for two weeks and it has never been the same. Better but not the same. Someday I will be able to afford a personal trainer and possibly an expert on sports injuries but not right now. So, I'm here, limping along as it were, but here and working out everyday and yes I guess I am back.