Pieces of Happy

Do you know Laurie from Luluanddaisy? Well I do and I just think she's neat! I was reading her blog today and she tipped me off to a link-up hosted by Ms. Kenzie of Chasinghappy. I'd never read her blog before, but I really identified with her post today. She was playing with her DLSR and taking pics of her husby staining their deck. Totally reminded me of some posts I've done and made me realize it's been far too long since I busted out my own DLSR. I like people who remind me of me (insert hair flip), so I'm now a new follower of hers and I'm totally tagging along with Laurie for the link-up.

And what a fun link-up--all you have to do is list out the happy in your life. Errbody's got time fo dat!

My happy 

Date night - Pete and I are going out to dinner and then seeing "The Great Gatsby" tonight. We might take a look at World Market if we have time to pick out new end tables for the living room. This was a nice excuse to spend some extra time on my hair this morning. Which leads me to my next happy...

My hair binder bracelet - I wear a binder on my wrist every day my hair is down--some days I throw one on my wrist even if my hair is already pulled up, just out of habit. I usually don't give it a second thought, but today I noticed my hair binder had worn out and I needed to dig up a new one. It reminded me of when Pete and I were engaged and Pete asked me to wear a binder for our wedding. He had noticed it on our very first date and thought it was a good sign that I just had a simple binder on my wrist instead of a thousand danglies or bangles. And then he noticed that I wore it for every subsequent date and it was one of those quirks he really liked. I didn't wear it for our wedding because I wanted to wear my Dad's watch instead, but I thought it was a very sweet notion. Made me smile to remember it this morning.

Cosmo - He's so fun in the morning! We've been tossing the ball for him in the backyard to run off some energy before work because we haven't had time for morning walks. I really need to plan better to get those walks in because they're important. But it's a lot of fun to see him chase that ball. This morning Pete was on fetch duty, but I got Cosmo set up. I went to let him in the house and discovered he'd wound his leash around our big tree. He knows that when I point to the side, he's supposed to run around the tree, but he hasn't quite made the connection that he needs to run in the direction I'm pointing. So he ran around and around the tree, his leash getting shorter and shorter and shorter until he hit the end of the slack and whipped against the tree. I kept calling his name and pointing and he kept trying to run in the same direction, falling against the tree about 5 times until he decided to try the other direction and managed to unwind himself. Man that was hilarious to watch!

Work - I have NO meeting schedule for today. Uninterrupted desk time, Yay!

4MChallenge - I feel so focused with this challenge. I've kept up on my workouts (though I did skip JM on Wednesday due to Mangria - see Instagram). And I can tell it's paying off! I'm about ready to move on to level 3 of the 30-Day Shred and I've NEVER made it there before. Yipe!

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An Inside Joke

So I think Pete and I are going to get rid of our cable. We never watch any "live" TV--other than HGTV when we're feeling zombie-ish and don't want to work to find anything else. Mostly, we just use Netflix. So it seems silly to pay for cable AND Netflix. Instead I think we'll just figure out how to run basic TV through the receiver (so Pete says--I don't understand this at all), cancel cable, and pick up either Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime.

Here's the deal: I wrote a long paragraph to segue into talking about The Office (one of our Netflix shows). But I decided that having a good flow to this post wasn't worth making you sit through that. So, pretend we casually got on the topic of Michael Scott.

One of our favorite Office moments was when Michael was upset about something and Dwight offered to give him the chills. While searching for that video one day, I stumbled on this gem.

Teaching Kids "Crack an Egg on Your Head" Song -- powered by ehow


I don't know why we loved this so much, but we thought it was hilarious. It's so awkward and creepy. Ever since then (like two years ago), Pete and I have quoted this video to each other. Just randomly.

"Turn around, Ruckle!"

"Didyougetthechills?" "Yeaaaahh!!!"

"Now I'll show you some fun things to do with some old-a children, when you're sittin' around waitin' fuh somethin'."

We basically just talk in quotes when we're cooking dinner together. At least once a week someone gets called Ruckle. I hope you enjoyed this peek into our married life. :)

Sitting in our tub in the middle of our torn-apart living room a few weeks back. He's trying to convince me I have a little chin (I don't).

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Wednesday Weight-Loss Stuff

It's been a while since I participated in weigh-in Wednesday. Let's review what happened, shall we?

I was motoring along, and then I had a bad week. I gained. Then I had some good weeks and I gained. I kept gaining and couldn't figure out why. Then I discovered that my thyroid disorder had gotten worse. It took a long time to get on the meds and in the process I kind of threw a hissy. I was all "Woe is me, woe is me," on my blog and I went off the rails because "what's the point anyway?". I broke up with the scale shortly after getting on thyroid meds because I realized that disappointing weigh-ins were seriously screwing with my head.

Flash forward, I've been "free-wheeling" it for a few weeks now. I'm pretty much maintaining, and this is due to the fact that I'm not tracking every single day. I track most days, and then get frustrated with meals I don't know how to calculate (or I get busy) and I stop. And then I start up again. I've been faithfully working out and trying to make good choices, but let's be honest: I need the science of Weight Watchers.

I need the points calculations. I need the weigh-ins. I need to look at my progress charts and see what works and what doesn't. I don't need things to be complicated. I just need them to be measurable. (Side note: have you ever read "Then Just Stay Fat" by Shannon Sorrels? It's an interesting, quick read, and worth a look if you roll your eyes at diet hype). 

Time to get back to accountability.

So I track this week. I weigh in this Saturday. I suck it up, roll with the punches, put an end to my pity party, and get back to good.

Workouts

Are you participating in the 4MChallenge? It's not too late! Here's the thing: I feel a little silly doing a Jillian DVD when I could be at the community center, taking classes (that I pay for), but Jillian just give such a good workout. Last night I was soaked in sweat by the end of my 3.5-mile run and a round of the 30-Day Shred Level 2. I guess the 94-degree weather didn’t help, but JM always leaves me exhausted, regardless of temperature.

The thing about Jillian is she packs those 25 minutes tight. It's high intensity interval training at its finest. Sure, I could put together my own workout easily enough, but it wouldn't be nearly as efficient as Jillian. I feel so accomplished when I'm done. And I love that I can squeeze the video in whenever I need to. I don't have to drive anywhere, wait for good weather, or even wear a shirt if I don't want to.

I'm kind of getting back to my roots. When I started getting physical, I ran and I did the 30DS. Now that's primarily what I'm doing (haven't made it to the community center all week). It feels like home.

This week --

Sat: JM 30-DS L2
Sun: 5-mile run
Mon: JM 30-DS L2 + moving a couch upstairs with Pete (got roped into that instead of my run) + after-dinner walk with Puppy and Pete
Tue: 3.5-mile run and JM 30-DS L2
Wed: JM 30-DS L2 (tonight, after church)

Monday night

Of course, next week I'm getting to some yoga classes. And spin, fo sho.

OH! Big news! I'm going to join a Wednesday night running group through my city's Parks and Rec department! It's only $15--they have a beginner's group and a boost group. I'll be in boost, but they meet at the same time/park, so I'm not sure how we're split up. I can't wait to check this out. After reading Leigh Ann's post about speedwork, I'm ready to start upping the pace!

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