Painting the Bathroom

My photos are in a little different order today b/c what I was doing for while exercising, inspired the rest of my day. Keeping in line with my plan to incorporate small amounts of exercise into my day to get me jump-started, I pulled out my old step and got sweating while watching HGTV. Watching all the renovations on TV prompted me to finally start repainting our bathroom (it's a hideous, dark color that doesn't match the tile at all). I've been saying I would do it for a year now, and I just got around to it. Way to go, Tina. I'm not a procrastinator at all, I promise. ha.

What I Did That Prompted Painting:



Yes, I was working out barefoot and in a lounge dress. What? Am I the only one who does that? Also, see that blur? I am fast. I can totally cram a 30 minute workout into 15 minutes. Or maybe my camera setting was too slow. Whichever.

What I Wore After Being Covered in Paint:

• dress (Susan Lawrence via Ross)
• cardigan (Axcess via Ross)
• flats (via DSW)
• earrings (Dana Buchman via Kohls)
• ring (etsy)
• paint roller (Home Depot)

What I Ate to Fuel Redecorating:

• breakfast: orange, low cal english muffin w/ peanut butter and sugar free jelly
• lunch: chicken and blackbean quesadilla w/ tortilla soup, orange
• dinner: porkchop, roasted sweet potatoes, squash and zucchini

Scarf Addict?

Hello, my name is Tina and I am a scarf addict. I've noticed that since I've been unemployed, my outfits have been really simple and I've been jazzing them up scarfs. It's perfect for this time of year. It's still to warm for long sleeves, but a t-shirt isn't always warm enough. Today I thought this fringed scarf would be a nice change of pace from my plain scarves. I'm not sure how I managed to keep the fringe out of the soup - twice, but somehow I did manage. Maybe I just chowed down too quickly for the fringe to have time to hit the soup?

What I Wore That Dangled Above the Soup:

• black slacks (Lane Bryant)
• blue T-shirt (Old Navy)
• scarf (H&M, gift from Kimberly)
• black sneakers (Converse via Target)
• earrings (Target via Goodwill)
• bracelet (?)

What I Ate That Involved Lots of Soup:

• breakfast: blueberry & coconut oatmeal
• lunch: 2 National Hebrew 97% Fat Free hotdogs with Whitewheat buns, Progresso Light Clam chowder, apple, carrot
• snack: none. too full from late lunch
• dinner: chicken & black bean quesadillas, Progresso Light Zesty Southwestern Style Vegetable soup w/ fat free cheddar cheese and 2 oz. avocado (basically I doctored it up to be tortilla soup)
• dessert: 1 ounce irish cream

What I Did that Accomplished Two Goals At Once:

Just Dance!

Elissa of Dress with Courage invited Julie of the Semi-Reformed Nerd and I to join her at an event Vogue was having in conjunction with Brahmin. There were sweet treats, glasses of champagne, and lots of beautiful bags. Julie fell in love with a fun, small clutch and I was drooling over a gorgeous red tote that I thought would be perfect for work. However, since I am unemployed I did not make any purchases. I've gotta watch my dollars and make responsible choices.

What I Wore To Hang Out With Vogue At Brahmin:

• black & gold dress (LucieLu)
• denim jacket (Jones New York Sport)
• black fishnets (Avenue)
• olive shoes (BCBGirls)
• earrings (gift, I think my aunt made them)
• bracelets (c/o Lane Bryant)

What I Did With My Slippers On:



I picked up a used copy of Just Dance 2 at Best Buy. I'd never done it before but I had heard that it was a fun way to break a sweat. And let's face it, I've gotten horribly out of shape. Even though I've been overweight for a long time, I was always still working out and getting exercise. But that's completely gone away over the last year, and I can really feel it. I don't like it. So I want to get back into the swing of exercising, but I knew I needed to ease back into it slowly. A dancing game seemed the way to go, and I had a ton of fun with it. Can you tell from the look on my face that I might have been into it? LOL

Weekend Wear: Road Warrior

Last week, I was on Twitter bemoaning my need for some motivation to get moving again. It turned out that I wasn't the only one. Jen from Smile Pretty and Kick Some Ass, Austin Slave to Fashion, and Lisa from My Journey To a Better Me all tweeted that they were in the same boat. So, I challenged all of us to do something - anything - to get us moving and to report back the next day. An you know what? We all did. And we all agreed to do it again over the weekend. Mini Motivation Challenge!

For my weekend movement, I rode my bike to lunch both Sat and Sun, and I met a friend to go walking on Sat (followed by a pedicure, of course). I forgot how much I loved to get my body moving. Fingers crossed that it's the start of more things to come.

What I Wore Riding My Bike to The Monk:

Rand's Daily Outfit Assessment: "You look like Audrey Hepburn. You know, a beatnik." To be fair, I did not have the purple dress on at the time, so I did look like her in Funny Face. But I didn't think the people at the bar would appreciate it if I wore leggings as pants (only at home, please). So I threw this dress on over it. Not nearly as cute, but much more appropriate for public.

What I Did Before Rewarding Myself With a Pedicure:

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Irish Bar Transformation

A peek into my weekend. Our favorite summer bar (yes we have a summer bar and a rest of the year bar) closed a year ago and just reopened under a new name. So we had to check that out, but not until after we rode in the Melon Patch Tour. It was a lot of fun.

What I Wore To Molly Maguires:

• blue/black pattern tank (via Kmart)
• denim cropped pants (Avenue)
• black wedges (via DSW)
• earrings (?)

What I Did While Eating Watermelon:

Let the Packing Begin

Today was spent doing more packing. It's going to be a common theme for the next few weeks. Since I never left the house today, I didn't ever put on shoes. Maybe I should give myself a pedi.

What I Wore While Packing Books:

• silk skirt (Old Navy)
• sheer shirt (Lane Bryant via Thrift Town)
• earrings (Dana Buchman via Kohls)
• tape gun (U Haul)

What I Did Before the Sun Came Up:

Rand and I went on a short ride before he had to head off to work. In order to get him to work on time, we had to leave the house before sunrise. The ride was good, but I would have loved to have slept another 1/2 hour.

Bold

It looks like I am going to be starting a new job soon. I won't know for certain until I start, but I think it's going to be a more conservative environment than I have been in for the last two years. That means I'll need to wear more business attire than I have been wearing. So I went a little crazy with my outfit today. Gotta get the crazy out now while I still can.

Rand's Daily Outfit Assessment: "Bold." I'm not sure I totally like the final product, but it is really what I wanted to wear today, so I wore it. (Later...) "I don't think the pearls work." (I took them off while he was talking.) "No. You need a necklace. You just need one that is more Escher-esque so that it matches your skirt."

What I Wore That Was Bold:

• skirt (Merona via Goodwill)
• red T (Lane Bryant)
• converse (Target)
• pearls (via Goodwill)

What I Ate That Was All Home Cooked:

• breakfast: toast (Whitewheat) w/ egg, peach
• lunch: whole wheat tortelini w/ pasta sauce
• dinner: 4 oz steak, kale chips, 1/2 corn cob, red wine
• dessert: skim milk, 2 cookies

What Rand and I Did at 6am:

Rand found a new bike trail near our house, so we checked it out before he went to work. I loved the grafiti on this train trellis.

Copy Cat - The Bomb!

Sorry I've been MIA! It's been pretty crazy here for the last 7 days. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say that getting online wasn't a top priority. But I am back! And I decided to get back into the groove by copy-catting Sara of Bombshell Beauty. She wore this outfit last week.

Rand's Daily Outfit Assessment: "That's a really odd outfit. Maybe you want to change before you are seen in public with me?" Needless to say, I did not change. At first I thought he was objecting to the "dress" since it's really PJs, but he's the one who told me I should wear it as a dress sometime. Nope. I think he just didn't like the color combo and the shiny with the plain cotton. hmmm. Whatever.

What I Wore While Rand Disapproved:

• green dress (acutally PJs, compliments of Lane Bryant)
• shiny safari shirt (Lane Bryant)
• gladiator sandals (Target)
• earrings (via JC Penney)

What I Did When I Finally Made Up My Mind:

4th of July

Red, white, and blue! Fried chicken! It must be the 4th of July.

What I Wore On Independence Day:

• blue/white gingham skirt (Cato via Goodwill)
• white T (Target)
• red cardi (Eddie Bauer via Goodwill)
• red flip flops (Old Navy)
• seagull necklace (via Goodwill)

What I Ate Because You HAVE To on Summer Holidays:

• dinner: biscuit, corn, mashed potatoes, fried chicken

How I Started Off the Holiday:

• 9 mile bike ride in small Texas town

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Weekend of Biking!

I decided to do a weekend post b/c Rand pointed out that I have only been exercising on the weekends, so I'm not "getting credit for it on my blog." LOL. Good point. I have been working out, just not on a daily basis. Recently, Rand bought a bike and as a result, I've taken up cycling again. Whoo hooo! I had forgotten how much I love to ride my bicycle.

What I Wore That Made My Legs Feel Stumpy:

• madras skirt (Target)
• blue tank (Michael Kors via Ross)
• white cardi (via Ross)
• black sneaks (Converse via Target)

What I Did With Rand in Spandex:

• Saturday: neighborhood ride = 7 miles
• Sunday: trail ride = 15 miles

I want to ride my bicycle!

I've mentioned a few times in the past that I used to be a big cyclist. The truth is that I used to be totally addicted, but then I fell in love with a man that hadn't ridden a bike in 20 years. I stopped riding. Even though I wasn't riding during our courtship, I still had bike brain. I picked up this gorgeous vintage Raliegh commuter bike from an estate sale and it's been sitting in the spare room for months. I keep saying I'm going to ride it to work. Well, I finally got my butt into gear and rode my bike to work!

What I Wore While Pedaling Away:

• maroon skirt (Lane Bryant)
• stripped blouse (Target, new via Goodwill)
• white belt (Target, hand-me-down from a skinny friend who bought it even though she knew she needed a smaller one)
• flats (Target)
• starfish necklace (goodwill)
• earrings (??)
• white cardigan (Target)
• brooch (Target)

What I Ate After Working Up an Appetite on my Bike:

• breakfast: small orange and breakfast bagel sandwich
• lunch: Hawaiian salad (Greenz)
• snack: greek yogurt and a pear
• dinner: vietnamese pork bun (Mai's)

For those of you who might be wondering, I did wear my work clothes for the bike ride. I just pulled a pair of padded spandex bike shorts on under my skirt for modesty and comfort.

9¢ Candy Should Be Illegal

The CVS across from my office has all their Valentines candy on sale for 90% off. I grabbed a bag of gummy hearts thinking that for 9 measly pennies I couldn't pass them up. The plan was to munch a few and then save the rest for later. That was the plan...until I shoved 3/4 of the bag in my face while driving to Goodwill. Way to go, Tina.

What I Wore While Spending 9 Cents:

• equestrian skirt (via Goodwill)
• blue silk ruffle-neck shell (Talbots, NWT via Goodwill)
• brown cashmere sweater (Old Navy)
• gold earrings (from Mom)
• gold tone brooch (via Goodwill)
• brown boots (Cloudwalkers via Avenue)
• belt (thrifted)

What I Ate After Leaving Dinner Sitting on the Counter ALL DAY LONG:

• breakfast: nutty bar, Blade
• lunch: Quorn patty on Whitewheat bun with avocado, sugar snap peas, carrots, cheese stick, orange, diet hot cider
• snack: 3/4 bag juju hearts
• dinner: General Tso's chicken (1/2), fried rice (1/2), wonton soup with wonton crisps, veggie egg roll

Exercise:

30 minnutes on the treadmill while watching Amazing Race. Man, I really want to be on that show. Actually, that's not quite right. I have no desire to be on TV, but I really want to do the race.

Total for the Day: 49.5 points eaten, 30 minutes exercise (2 points earned), 5 glasses water

Flashback Feb 26, 2010...2009...2008

Rand's Daily Outfit Assessment: "Where's your horse?" huh? "You look like you should be riding a horse."

Before I started blogging, I posted daily outfits on FabSugar. So I actually have daily outfit photos stored in my computer from as far back as 2008. Amazingly, I still wear most of the same clothes. After today's outfit pic, please enjoy a flashback to the same date in 2009 and 2008.

What I Wore in 2010:

• jeans (Levi's)
• pink T (Target)
• black blazer w/ fauz fur trim (Lane Bryant)
• black boots (Cloudwalkers via Avenue)
• white necklace (via Goodwill)
• makeup (Lancome via Neiman Marcus - it's my trial run for wedding makeup)

Flashback to Same Date 2008 & 2009:

(apparantly I should have worn a green cardi today. oops)

What I Ate Despite Tomorrow Being My Weigh In:

• breakfast: skipped it. oops.
• lunch: buddig sandwich on sandwich thin, pretzels, grapes, 2 carrots, cheese stick, hot tea
• snack: yogurt, SoyJoy, apple
• dinner: chicken & snow peas, fried rice, wonton soup, fried wonton strips

Exercise:

20 minutes on the treadmill.

Total for the Day: 20 minutes exercise (2 points earned), 5 glasses water, 44 points eaten

My Poor Car

Today did not start off very well. I stepped out of the house to head to work, nice and early. The first thing I saw from the porch was that one of my car windows had been smashed in. Luckily nothing was taken, but I had to spend my morning filing a police report and getting my car fixed. So I was 3 hours later for work than I would have liked, plus I was out the money for a new window. Such is life, I guess.

What I Wore While Talking To the Police:

• dress (it's really old, so I don't remember, but I think I got it at Ross)
• sweater (J. Crew via Goodwill)
• red suede pumps (Jessica Simpson via Goodwill)
• brooch & necklace (via Goodwill)
• earrings (via Macy's)

What I Ate While Waiting For Car Repairs:

• breakfast: sandwich thin with fat free cheese and egg, tangelo
• lunch: leftover veggies and rice with 1 oz chicken, celery, apple, cheese stick
• snack: hot tea, yogurt, SoyJoy, orange
• dinner: WW Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie
• dessert: mini microwave cake (5 pts, not pictured)

What I Did Before I Knew The Car Was Smashed:

Total for the Day: 29 points, 30 minutes exercise (2 activity points earned)

Family Treasures

My grandfather gave me a pocketwatch a few years ago. It belonged to his father when he worked on the railroad, and then to his grandfather, so this watch has been in my family for 5 genereations. It's over a hundred years old. I've never carried it before, but I've always wanted to. So I pulled out a pair of pants that have a watch pocket in them and rigged up a brooch and chain to create an exaggerated watch chain and fob. It was a little over the top, but the rest of the outfit is so conservative that it isn't too much.

What I Wore That Was Over 100 Years Old:

• cream T, overdyed and embellished by me (Target)
• brown slacks (George via Walmart)
• orange cardi (via consignment)
• brown flats
• brooch (Etsy)
• gold chain (H&M)
• earrings (gift)
• pocket watch (Illinois Watch Co., inherited)

What I Ate That Now Comes With Yellow:

After a compliment on my outfit (thanks!), Kathryn made the following request:

I also love the way that you document the food you ate. A few days ago you added the points too. Can you continue doing that? Maybe for each food item - or maybe I'm asking too much.

Kathryn, it never hurts to ask, right? I usually put a tally of the total points I've consumed at the end of my blog posts. But I don't do it when I don't know what the tally is. Some days I'm too busy to get online and log them all in. And some days I've been eating crap and I am scared to see the total. So rest assured that I will post the info when I have it. And I'll try putting the total for each meal on the photo, but I don't think I can get into the specifics of every single item. Honestly, I just don't think I would keep up with that. However, feel free to email me any questions about specific food items if you want more info. I am happy to tell you what brand something is, if it appeals to you. You can also ask me about receipes. I don't mind at all.

So today we'll see a new, yellow addition to my food pics. Points values!

• breakfast: homemade McMuffin, grapefruit
• lunch: buddig sandwich, pear, carrots, pretzels, cheese stick
• snack: yogurt, Soyjoy, blood orange
• dinner: Cuban braised beef and peppers, 1 c. brown rice
• dessert: WW english toffee crunch ice cream, 7 almonds

What I Did While the Rice Cooked:

30 minutes on the treadmill and an old episode of SNL

Total for the Day: 28.5 points, 4 glasses water, 30 minutes exercise

Owl You Ready For the Weekend?

Rand's Daily Outfit Assessment: "You look like a realtor." That's what you said the first time I wore this jacket. "You look like a leprechan?" Nope. You've said that before too. "Well maybe you shouldn't wear the same jacket so much." Oh okay. You want me to buy things and only wear them once? "Whatever. But what's with all the animals lately? You wore a jillion yesterday and now you've got this owl on today." I love it!

Which brings me to the necklace. I really do love it. It's quite big and not the easiest thing to wear, but when I saw it for 79 cents at Goodwill, I had to have it. It makes me think of Kasmira and all her owl accesories. She even has an owl necklace too.

What I Wore While Saying "Who":

• green jacket (via Goodwill)
• jean pencil skirt (Target)
• black/white striped T (via Goodwill)
• black tights (Target)
• black ruffle flats (maurices)
• gold earrings (I don't remember)
• owl necklace (via Goodwill)

What I Did While Rand Ran Errands:

I don't like anyone to watch me workout unless they are working out with me, so I grabbed the opportunity to steal the Tivo and living room for a quick workout while Rand was out of the house.

What I Ate While Struggling To Keep on Track:

faux chicken parm with penne pasta, roasted brocolli and cauliflower, and red wine.

Best Tights Ever!

If you can beleive it, I picked these fabulous new tights up at Goodwill. And they were indeed new. They still had the carboard in the center, but sadly no outside packaging. Total bummer b/c I would absolutely by whatever brand this is. The tights are nice and thick, so I wasn't terrified that I was going to shove a thumb throught the delicate pattern when I put them on. And they are by far the best pattern of tights that I've seen for plus size. And I really wanted to let them take center stage, so I kept the rest of the outfit pretty simple.

What I Wore For the Love of Tights:

• black dress (Gap)
• magenta tights (via Goodwill)
• magenta tweed jacket (Lane Bryant)
• black leather belt (Target)
• seed pearl necklace and bracelet (made by friend's mom)
• earrings (Target)
• black suede wedges (BCBGirls)
• leather envelope purse (via Goodwill)

What I Ate That Was Not Worth It:

We were supposed to go grocery shopping on the way home from work, but I left the list at home and we were starving, so we popped into the loval italien restaurant near our new house. It was cute and very romantic inside, but that's where the priase stops. The service sucked, they were blaring tejano music (which is so weird with italien food), and the food was thoroughly mediocre. I'm sad, b/c we really like to patronize local restaurants, esp those in our neighborhood.

• breakfast: barley & oats w/ cream and apple
• lunch: chicken sandwich, carrots, tomatoe, 1/2 avocado, orange
• snack: grapes, yogurt, SoyJoy
• dinner: watery chicken parmesan, uncoooked & stale penne, slimy veggies (the photo is not my actual dinner. I forgot to take a pic)

What I Did While Discussing How Our Wedding Guest List Keeps Growing:

Snowpocalyps

Rand woke me up this morning to tell me that there was snow on the ground. Yay! And then it snowed all day long. It's so pretty.

What I Wore While Playing in the Snow:

(Click to embiggen)

• brown tweed skirt (Lane Bryant)
• brown long sleeve T (Target)
• pink sweater (Old Navy)
• brown tights (Target)
• brown boots (Cloudwalkers via Avenue)
• brown belt (?)
• pink/animal print scarf (Goodwill)
• necklace and earrings (Target)
• headband (Target)

What I Ate Because It Seemed Cozy:

• breakfast: barley & oats w/ fat free half & half and apples
• lunch: pastrami sandwich, carrots, apple
• snack: yogurt
• dinner: beef pho

What I Did While Discussing the Snow With Rand:

30 minutes on the treadmill. I know it looks like I am standing still on the treadmill while I am doing my weighted punches, but really I am walking at the same time. My current routine is to walk, and then every 5 minutes I do a set of punches and lifts and then run for one minute. I can't handle running much more than that right now. But I will some day!

Total for the Day: 30 points eaten, 2 activity points earned, 2 glasses water, 30 minutes exercise

And just for fun, here is the view from my office window. I love all the snow falling in front of the historic high rise buildings.

Don't forget to sign up for the purse giveaway.