Channel M

Things I loathe:

• Stupid intranet complications - it makes it hard to work!
• Jitters & nerves
  
• My own impatience
  

• Using the second clasp on my over the shoulder bolder holder because now I've lost 13 pounds!
• Using phrases like "over the shoulder bolder holder"
  
• Beer & wings night with Pops
• Kamikaze shots
• Vacay days for cruises to the Bahamas with the girls! (Zomg - on Friday!)
• Sweet gifts from Meggy-poo!
• New challenges at work
• Confidence
• Selling more CRAP on ebay!
• The people who buy my CRAP on ebay :)
• July 4th plans! Baltimore, here I come!
  
• That my love list is at least three times as long as my loathe list
  

Here we go...

Things I loathe:

• Stupid computer settings that prevent me from doing my work
• Struggling with my efforts to lose weight
• Cat scratches
• Buttholes (in the non-anatomical sense)
• The lady that couldn't drive her big SUV and almost hit pedestrians because she was *shock* talking on her cell phone
• Gas prices
• Itchy feet
• Hair (unless on my head)
  

• Homemade sushi night with D. ZOMG!
• Total of 9 pounds lost since the first weeks of April. Double ZOMG!
• Corporal cuddles
• Fresh strawberries
• Grilling out
• Having an awesome round at the driving range with D
• Tuesday tennis!!!
• Grilled pineapple
• Contentment
  
• Seeing my old professors and catching up
• Sharing my love of sushi with others
• Sunny days
• Window perches for cats
• Selling stuff on e-bay (and *hopefully* making a profit)
• Game nights & mojitos!
  

It's Monday, go figure. On the bright side, I just sold some of my atrocious 90's music on e-bay! It may not have raked in the serious dough, but at least I'm up $1.99 and down some worthless CDs. w00t!

And before you cast judgment on my terrible music selecting abilities, please realize that I was heavily influenced by others as a child and had the strange ability to pick out one-hit wonders or in this case, no-hit wonders. What talent, I tell you.

So maybe I'm a little late to the group and the concept, but I always love reading these from my hood so here goes.

Things I loathe

• Feelings of doubt and insecurity
• People who get married just to get married
• Passive aggressive behavior
• Freaking out about my weight
• Guilt trips
• Jealousy
  

• Tuesday tennis with D
• Losing another pound (after I gained it)
• Picante chicken
• Reality show season finales (so I can have my life back)
• Much needed cuddles
• Fuzzy blankets
• Skipbo
• Italian ice and custard combo
• Celebrating birthdays
• Laughing at nothing
  

Can you believe it?? 12 weeks and here we are. Things have been going well for me this past week. I set and then nearly reached my goal of a 3 pound weight loss. I say nearly, I was .3 off, but I'm willing to cut myself a break. I just hope I can maintain that 3 pound loss after the weekend. Seems to be my biggest cheating time - naturally.

But overall, I feel really great about who I am and how I've changed over the past 12 weeks!

• Not only have I realized that I need a healthier lifestyle, I've started one.
• I've established good exercise and eating habits.
  
• I have a personal trainer and I've lost 8 pounds since I started that 2 weeks ago.
• I've realized that making healthy decisions isn't a sacrifice per se, but is more of a privilege as I continue to get fit.
• Being the size I want to be is a reality and this time I'm going to reach it!

Would I be interested in another challenge? Well......OF COURSE! Except, I can't promise that I'll post every week as I'd like to focus on posting other things as well so my blog has a wide variety of posts and my hoodies don't abandon me all together. I know I can do that and post every week to the VFC, but as life has picked up I find that I don't always have as much time as I'd like and this tends to fill both my VFC obligations as well as my hood obligations and sometimes I even find myself booooring. However, that doesn't mean I won't be checking in and reporting to the group how I'm doing. I'd love to have a continuous network here on Vox. So Foxsy - if you start up another round, count me in!

So I guess the real question is - did I reach my goal that I set for myself 12 long weeks ago?

Not really - not if you want to look at the numbers I gave you. But now that I've started working with a personal trainer, I know it's going to happen. But I am down 8 pounds that I had when I first started and my pants are starting to need the constant pull up motion...which is good too! Sometimes, I suppose it isn't just about the numbers, it's about how you feel too. So how can I be minus 8 pounds and still have the same measurements? I dunno - I've never understood myself, but I know I'm making improvements. The face is thinning a bit and you can actually see my collar bones a bit. Woohoo! When I make some drastic changes - I'll be sure to give you all the updates in a vain "Look at me!" post.

So if you can stand to wait just a few more weeks, then we can celebrate my transformations as I'm still working away to be the me I want to be! Thanks to all my hoodies and my VFC peeps who continued to encourage me all along the way. Cheers to you all!

I VOTED! Woo-hoo.

FINALLY, NC gets a turn. Of course, May 6 is our real primary, but they opened it up for early voting. No matter what happens in PA tomorrow, at least I can say I cast my ballot!

Two weekends ago, D and I went to DC to visit KC and one our stops was at the Smithsonian of Natural History. I had pre-ordered tix for the butterfly exhibit. That's right - live butterflies!! Squeeee and ewwww all at the same time.

While bugs in general, no matter how pretty they are, freak me out - I'd highly recommend this exhibit. So cool!
Please excuse me while I showcase my cute fluttery friends.

Butterfly 1

Butterfly 2

Butterfly 3

Butterfly 6

Butterfly 8

And as a bonus for making it this far and oogling at all my pics - here's one of me sucking face with T-Rex. I know - HOT! ;-)

Kissy, kissy - is this really what I look like when I suck face?

7 comments

Last week when I saw Into the Wild, I didn't quite understand why I was so moved. I didn't know why I was in tears when the credits rolled and I certainly couldn't verbalize those emotions to make any sense outside my head. It wasn't until today that I finally put two and two together when I was chatting with my friend, Kat. As we discussed over our sushi dinner, she said it too hit close to home for her, except for different reasons. While she saw her brother in the main character, Chris (a.k.a Alex Supertramp), I saw a little bit of myself. While I was never quite so extreme in the measures I took to find myself - I do know at times that I was just as self-destructive.

If you haven't heard of Into the Wild, put it at the top of your list and then stop reading if you don't want any sort of spoiler. But if you don't mind a few minor movie details then I won't mind telling you that the plot revolves around a college graduate, aged 22 who sets out on his own to not only discover life, but to discover himself. Gee - sound familiar?

While it was intriguing to watch this boy's adventure, knowing that I saw myself in him, it was Alex Supertramp's final thought that really touched my soul - "Happiness is only real when shared."

Anyways, after you wipe up the cheese from this post, take the time to watch the trailer. Then run out and rent the video or add it to your Netflix cue - STAT!

Wowza - talk about a lazy bum. That's me, except I've only been lazy in the blog department! It's Week 11, but it feels like it's been ages since my last blog...oh wait, that's because it has been ages. Suppose I should check in the group to make sure that we're not secretly on Week 12, but once again...LAZY!

Anywhooo, since we last spoke, I got a personal trainer! He's fantastic - he motivates, he talks to me about my eating habits, tells me what I can do to improve, lets me know that I'm doing great...the whole enchilada and since we've started I've lots 5 pounds! 5! Count 'em! And we're not talking about Maggie's old school weight loss where I'd lose 'em and then put them back on again. We're talking, kept 'em off for a week! Another 6 pounds and I'll be at the weight I was when I entered college - whoa! Haven't been at that point in a long time - 6 years, yikes! But that's not even my goal.

My goal is a 20 pound weight loss. I actually feel good about this and I feel like this is something I can really do. I knew I could do it before, but I was just stuck. Getting a PT was exactly what I needed. I'm not only held accountable to me, but also to the PT. I love it and D has been really supportive and helping me eat better. I like feeling healthy, I like this whole weight loss thing and for the first time in a long time - I feel like I'm really going to do it. I'm really going to be fit. Who knows - maybe I'll buy my first bikini EVAR!

heh - maybe not, no need to get ahead of myself.

I know VFC is about to wrap up in a week, but to me it just feels like I'm finally starting. Don't worry - I won't bore any of you with my fitness excitement past the 12 weeks, but don't be surprised if you get an omg, look at me post. It's bound to happen, but in the mean time I'm keeping my eye on the prize!

Get fit, get fit, get fit! Keep on truckin' peeps!

Iz mai birfday and what better way to celebrate than with loved ones, voxy peeps, margaritas, and of course....a birfday LOLcat!!!

Dis will b mii on Caturday in DC! Watch owt!

Maggie's Caturday Nite Fevr