Cracker and Pizza

Ah Mondays. Two weeks away from the office was all it took to forget how rotten and slow you are. It probably didn't help that I worked 10 hours straight rather than 8 hours with a lunch in the middle. But that's how I roll. I like to front load the week by working long days and eating at my desk. That way I get to leave early on Fridays. It is so worth it! Imight even go back to working 4 ten hour days and having a 3 day weekend. I used to do that. It was wonderful.

What kind of work schedule do you keep?

What I Wore While Slogging Through a Long Monday:

• black suit (Lane Bryant)
• teal grecian crepe tank (Lane Bryant via Thrift Town)
• patterned platform pumps (hand-me-down)
• wooden bangle (Lane Bryant)
• red asian necklace (via Goodwill)
• red earrings (Lane Bryant)
• button ring (Etsy Bash)

What I Ate While Battling Free-food-itis:

I've mentioned it on more than one occassion; I suffer from Free-food-itis. If it's free food, I want it. It doesn't matter if it tastes bad, if I already have food, or even if I am already full. Seriously, I don't like chocolate cake, but when someone brings one to the office, I have a slice. sigh. Well, the Powers That Be brought in lunch today from Jason's Deli. I almost grabbed a wrap from the sandwich tray, but I know better than to be fooled into thinking that stuff is okay to eat. Jason's makes good food, but if I can't control the type of bread, the amount of meat, or even the condiments, it's way too easy to tell myself that "it's just a turkey sandwich" even though it's a 700 calorie turkey sandwich.

I am happy to say, I grabbed some salad (no dressing) and some fruit (no dipping sauce) and then had my turkey hotdogs that I had brought with me. And when my brain told me "there's still free food over there" I went back and got more salad and fruit rather than giving in to the giant bag of potato chips. Yay!

• breakfast: healthy bagel sandwich, small orange, 1/2 Monster
• lunch: salad, mixed fruit, 2 turkey dogs with high fiber buns, more salad, pickles
• snack: Clif Z bar, lite yogurt, banana (way too ripe for me. yuck)
• dinner: tomato and arugula pizza on a Flatout wrap, salad, grape flavored Crystal Lite in a wine glass for fun *
• dessert: 7 almonds (1 pt), diet margarita (2 points)

* That's one of my kitties, Cracker, checking out the pizza.

Total for the Day: 27 points**

** I'm supposed to eat at least 29/day, so this is too low. I thought that I had eaten 29 when I went to bed, but when I added things up the next morning I saw that I miscalculated. Darn it. I would have had another diet margarita. Or a real glass of wine with dinner.

Work Wear: Thrifted Skirt

Time for another gas station photo! Such an exciting photo location, I know, but I was running really late to work so I decided to combine tasks in an effort to save myself 3 minutes.

What I Wore At The Gas Station:

• skirt (via Goodwill, appears hand-made)
• blouse (Lane Bryant)
• belt (came on a dress)
• shoes (Chinese Laundry?)
• earrings (via Goodwill)
• necklace (via Macy's)
• watch (Tikkr)

What I Ate While Actually Tracking Points:

I was really inspired by Kimberly's (of Fab Finds Under $50) weight loss. Despite having almost no time to have a healthy meal while we were in NYC together for Full Figured Fashion Week, she continued her steady weight loss. If you've been reading my blog since they beginning, you may remember that this was originally supposed to be a venue for me to keep ontrack with healthy eating and weight loss. The fashion was originally intended to be a side item, but over the years has become the main focus. I am okay with that. I really enjoy the fashion more than the food aspect anyway. BUT, I don't like that I've really slacked off in the healthy eating department. I met Rand and fell in love and gained 20 pounds.  So then I started this blog two years ago. I did pretty well for awhile and I lost 10-15 pounds. Then I got married and gained that all back. And then I got a new job where I am constantly surrounded by free food (I have free-food-itis) and I stopped biking and I gained yet another 20 pounds. Yep, I weigh 20 pounds more than I did when I started this blog with the intention to lose weight. Mildly ironic, I think. I've made some half-hearted attempts to get back on track and it stopped the weight gain but didn't really push me in the other direction. 

So I am calling myself out. 

• I WILL rejoin Weight Watchers (I actually did this already)
• I WILL plan my meals for the week in advance.
• I WILL track my points every day, even on "bad" days.
• I WILL make my splurge days fit into my weekly points, instead of having a free-for-all one day every week.
• I WILL photograph all my food, even when I am eating something unhealthy.
• I WILL not "start over next week" when I get offtrack. Instead I will pick up where I am and try to make healthier choices right now.
• I WILL not kick myself if I eat something I shouldn't. I am stubborn and contrary by nature, so telling me I can't have/do/eat something is sure to make me do it immediately, so I won't trigger that by making this a "only healthy all the time, must be 100% perfect" endeavor. That won't work for me.

So, wish me luck as I step back on the scale. And without further ado, here is my first food post in ages that actually lists the points of what I am eating.

• breakfast: breakfast sandwich, 3 cuties, V8
• lunch: pastrami sandwich, carrots, grape tomatoes, orange
• snack: cheese stick, mango, Clif bar
• dinner: apple chicken sausage, green beans, WW pasta salad (meh on the pasta salad), white wine
• dessert: Skinny Cow vanilla caramel ice cream cone

Free Food-itis Rears Its Head

We brought a bunch of new people onto our project today, so some of the bigwigs were onsite. So I put on a suit today. I realized when I started editing photos that I didn't take one with me actually wearing my suit jacket. Oops. I did not go around all day with a sheer shirt, I actually wore my jacket. I just took it off for the drive home.

What I Wore While The New People Were Being Trained:

• taupe sheer blouse (Newport News)
• brown suit (Lane Bryant)
• brown heels (Manolo Blahniks, thrifted Goodwill)
• brown floral cutour belt (Dots)
• mother of pearl earrings (Target)
• key (antique store)

What I Ate Because It was Free:

I've mentioned before that I have issues with free food. I have to eat it. I'm really trying hard to counter that compulsion, but it's still there. I brought my breakfast and my lunch to work today, but they provided both since new people were being trained. Instead of eating my homemade meals, I attacked the free food like it was going to disappear. Then my step bro took us out for dinner to celebrate our engagement and to introduce us to his girlfriend. I picked what I thought would be a healthy choice - grilled shrimp tacos in corn torillas, but was soaking in oil. Yuck.

• breakfast: plain bagel with plain cream cheese, coffee w/ cream
• lunch: quesadilla triangle, 1 beef taco, 2 tortillas, 2 T guac, 2 T sour cream, 1/4 black beans, 1 chocolate chip cookie
• dinner: really gross shrimp tacos (i only ate 1/2), roasted veggies, 2 mojitos

What I Did Thanks To the Generous Madame:

I follow not only fashion blogs, but also food, fitness, and weight loss blogs. One of the weightloss and fitness blogs that I follow is Madame: The Journey of a Weight Loss*ista. Recently she hosted several giveaways and I won a heart rate monitor, which I have really been wanting to help count my calories burned when I work out!! And she was also givng away a new copy of The 30 Dy Shred, which I did not win. But she is so generous that she gave me her used copy since she was done with it. So thanks to this wonderful woman, I crossed two items off my wish list.

I haven't tried out the heart rate monitor yet, b/c I still need to set it up, but you know that I popped that workout DVD in immediately. Ah, sweet Jillian Michaels. She kicked my butt and I only did the wimpy version of level 1. Someone is going to be sore...

Thanks again, Madame! You rock!

Total for the Day: too many calories, not nearly enough water, 1/2 hour of ass kicking by JM

So I've won several giveaways lately. I've been really lucky, which has gotten me thinking that I need to pass along the fun. I'm still working out the details in my head, but I'm going to have a giveaway soon. Stay tuned!

Frost, Newbies, Chinese, and the Post Office

When I went out to my car this morning, there was the most beautiful frost on my windshield. I could barely touch the steering wheel b/c it was so cold, but the frost was at least one upside to the cold weather.

We trained a bunch of new employees today, so I spent most of the day running around answering questions and helping people settle into the ins and outs of the lawsuit we are working on. It really made the day fly by.

What I Wore While Helping New Employees:

• purple skirt (Lane Bryant) *
• purple/blue pin-striped dress shirt (Gap) **
• blue lace edge tank (Target)
• blue dolman sleeve cardi (via Goodwill)
• black buckle pumps (Nicole Miller)
• purple beaded necklace (vintage, from a friend)
• purple earrings (Target)

* So here is the same skirt I wore yesterday, but in a different color. I counted tonight; I have it in brown, black, maroon, purple, lavendar tweed, green tweed, and black tweed. Gee, do you think I like the cut of it or something?
** I totally forgot to take a close up of this pinstripe. I really love this shirt and I am digging purple and blue together right now.

What I Ate After Fending Off Free Food:

I've talked before about my problems with free-food-itis. Well there were free bagels this morning since we had training for the newbies. And these bagels looked good. But I managed to resist them all day long. I patted myself on the back a little too early today, though. B/c when a friend came over for dinner, I completely ditched the new fish recipe that I had planned and we ordered in chinese.

• breakfast: banana, cheesey egg, alternative bagel
• lunch: Progresso light soup, Buddig sandwich, cauliflower, string cheese
• snack: apple, 3 cuties, lite yogurt
• dinner: chinese delivery

What I Did While Waiting for the Post Office to Open:

Rand asked me to mail in his passport renewal today since he is out of town. For our upcoming honeymoon, you ask? Nope. B/c there is a slim chance he might be sent to Ireland for business some time in the future. Honestly, I don't think he even remembered that he might need it for the honeymoon. LOL. Anway, while I was waiting for the post office to open, I did 1/2 hour on the treadmill. My food may be spotty right now, but I'm getting a good start with the exercise.

Possums & Pearls

I felt so very french riding my bike to work while wearing this shirt-dress; all I needed was a loaf of crusty bread in a basket on the front of my bike. My french daydreams came crashing back to American reality when I stopped to take my photos in a neighbor's side yard (check out this huge flower bush). As I was standing there posing, this fat opossum comes lumbering down the road. You never see them during the day since they are nocturnal, but this was just happy as can be, trucking along in the street and then on the sidewalk. In my head he was singing "der der der de der. walkin' down the street. der de der de der." ha! Half of my photos are me staring and laughing at him.

And then on my way home, I spotted a mulberry tree in an abandoned lot. I love mulberries. We used to eat from the backyard when I would spend summers in Iowa. Yum. So when I got home, I grabbed a tub and Rand and we walked back to the tree to do some urban foraging. So you know I suffer from free-food-itis, but free, FOUND food is even better. Whoo hoo! I'll be eating those tomorrow.

What I Wore While Laughing at a Day Possum:

• brown crochet tank (Old Navy)
• black shirt-dress (via Goodwill)
• brown tweed mules (really old, I don't remember)
• brooch (via Goodwill)
• bracelet (Ross?)
• faux pearl earrings (new via Goodwill)
• faux pearl necklaces (via local charity shop)

Today's jewelry was totally inspired by Kendi Everyday. I already had the black dress and brown accessories set out to wear, but when I saw her post wearing the same thing, I knew I had to snag her idea to wear it with champagne colored pearls. Thanks for the inspiration, Kendi!