Perhaps I Need to Elaborate

If you get a comment from me with a picture of ME (not my girl) that should link you to my new blog. Follow the linky road....

A New Blog

OK, I've created a new blog. I'll try to visit all y'all soon and leave a comment that will allow you to get to my new blog. If you don't hear from me soon enough leave a comment!

Off to new adventures! Yay!

Reunion Recap and Other Ponderings

All in all, most everyone looked the same at our reunion. A few people gained or lost enough weight for it to be noticable, but that was the exception rather than the rule. A couple of guys had lost their hair. And sadly, one of my classmates died a couple of years ago. That was kind of a shocker. He lived in my neighborhood.

As I mentioned in my last post, I felt good about my appearance and my presence at the event. I didn't feel like I had anything to prove, and I think that more relaxed attitude was apparent. (Note: I was pretty tightly wound in high school - a classic overachiever.) In fact, one of the guys mentioned to me that I was the biggest surprise in terms of appearance. Since I never felt that pretty in high school I'm going to take that as a compliment!*

Going back to my old town brought up a lot of emotions. I drove around and took pictures to share with my family. The old neighborhood is still pretty. The middle school has closed. The things that irritated me about living there are still in existence. I'm so very glad we moved away from there. It wasn't a good environment for me, but the upside is that I really appreciate where I live now.

* I know I was supposed to post pictures, but believe it or not I did not take a single picture at the event! I was too busy visiting.

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I may not have shared this in the very beginning, but it was this reunion that prompted me to get serious about weight loss and start this blog. Now that reunion has come and gone I'm not sure there is any reason to continue Positively Losing. I'm not at my goal weight, but I'm ok with that and feel confident that I will eventually hit my goal. I don't know if I want to keep writing posts about diet and exercise.

Getting to know my blogmies has been a fantastically rewarding experience. I enjoy blogging for so many reasons and I don't want to give that up. I might however be open to a more public blog - one where I can post pictures without the fear of recognition; one where I don't post my weight!

I'm feeling a little directionless right now and I'd love your input. Which posts (if any) have you enjoyed from me? In a quick brainstorming session (eg while brushing my teeth) I came up with these ideas for potential blogs:

1. Just a general diary about my life. Upside: Gives me lots of leeway to write about whatever I want. Plus, I could try my hand at being funny. And I can post pics of me, friends and family without worrying about being outed. Downside: Could devolve into boring drivel.

2. A focus on books. Upside: I love to read and my friends on Goodreads often laugh at my book reviews. Downside: Could be limiting material-wise.

3. A focus on dating. Downside: I probably should keep a blog like that anonymous. Plus I really don't like dating all that much. I'm not sure there is an upside to this one.

4. A focus on my girl and dogs in general. Upside: I could finally reveal her name! Downside: My girl is pretty old so that blog might be short lived. Although I could chronicle the foster dogs in my life once she dies.

5. A focus on foster care. Downside: There might be some legal issues preventing me from posting pictures and writing about these kids.

6. A focus on my walk with God. Downside: There are many other bloggers who do a far better job of this. I enjoy learning from them, but I'm not sure I feel called to do this.

So you see? Directionless. Casting about. Searching. Questioning. At least it is just within the confines of blogging. If I felt that way about my life I'd be on the verge of a breakdown!

Please comment with your suggestions. And hey, if you have any blog titles to go with your suggestions bring 'em on!

Home From Reunion

Just a quick post to say reunion was a lot of fun. I'm glad I made the effort to attend, and I'm especially glad I started my weight loss journey almost a year ago to prepare for it. I felt good about myself and was able to just relax and visit with people instead of feeling paranoid about my weight.

More to post later but I only had 3 hours of sleep last night, so I'm headed for bed!

Getting Ready For Reunion

Things I have done to prepare for reunion:

1. RSVP'd on facebook. Boy has that site been handy for coordinating stuff.

2. Pulled out my old yearbooks. Which involved moving furniture creating lots of mess to clean up.

3. Read my 7th grade and 8th grade yearbooks. I'll get to the high school ones later this week. So far the theme of my autographs from middle school is this: "Juice, I didn't know you very well but you seem like a nice person. Have a great summer." How's that for honesty?

4. Bought this dress. Isn't it cute?!? I wasn't sure about it but my coworker convinced me. And then she made me try it on for the rest of the office and everyone gave it a thumbs up. Thank goodness for my 30% off coupon from Loft - paying full price for clothing makes me cringe!

5. Checked the weather. Mid 80s highs, mid 60s lows. Chance of thunderstorms.

6. Selected some books on CD for the 5 hour drive. Right now I'm listening to The End of Overeating. It's fascinating, but it makes me want to eat!





Things I have left to do:

1. Pack. The nice thing about driving is that I don't have to worry about being efficient or packing liquids.

2. Clean my house. I have 2 people coming in to take care of my girl and my house is embarrassingly dirty!

3. Brainstorm about what I want to see in my old town. I haven't been there in 10 years, and I probably won't be back for at least another 5, so I better make this visit count!

4. Charge my camera and ipod.

5. Buy new black sandals to match my sassy dress. I've been meaning to buy a pair of new sandals for a while now, but now I'm just a little more motivated. :)

That's all I can think of for now. This may be a boring post to read, but it was kind of a therapeutic brain dump for me!

Who Me? An MRI?

I've mentioned before that I'm seeing a chiropractor for that pain in my hip. Unfortunately, I'm not experiencing any relief. If I decrease my activity level the pain lessens, but once I start playing tennis or hiking again it comes back. Between my hike Sunday, tennis Monday and dance class today I'm pretty uncomfortable, even with Advil and Aleve. My hip hurts when I walk and my lower back hurts when I sit at my desk. Neither pain is to the point where I'm crying, but it is definitely distracting.

My chiropractor now suspects that I have some disc thing going on in my lower back and he wants me to get an MRI. This suspicion is supported by the fact that my hip hurts worse when I have to carry something heavy (such as my briefcase, or my girl up and down the stairs). He thinks the extra weight causes more compression on my spine which further aggrevates the disc. Now I have the fun task of convincing my primary care physician that I need an MRI (dang HMO). I've left a message for the doctor, but I suspect I may need to make an appointment to really get her attention.

Aside from that, tennis Monday was a LOT of fun. We finally progressed from just hitting the ball to playing real games. (Note: If you've ever seen me with a tennis racquet you would know that the word "playing" should be surrounded with air quotes.) My competitive nature came out and helped me to forget the pain and go after the ball. Very fun and I can't wait to play again, but I'll let the hip rest for a week!

Weekend Roundup, An Unflattering Picture and Thoughts on Reunion

I hosted a foster kid "R" Friday night and Saturday during the day. Friday night we went out for pizza with my friend B. R enjoyed the pizza, but he was much more excited to get back home and take a bath using the jacuzzi jets. Goes to show you never can tell what will float someone's boat.

Saturday R and I took a hike at a local state park. I don't think he was particularly excited about taking a long walk to nowhere, but I really wanted the exercise and I knew it would do him good too. I tried to make it more interesting by handing him the camera and letting him play photojournalist. Here are a few pics of our day:







Cool funky orange fungi on a fallen tree.



A blue blaze marking our trail.

As I was looking through the photos I found one that was not flattering at all! I deleted it from the album, but I'll show you a piece of it here. Because apparently I'm a masochist.



Ready?






Yikes! Note to self: Flex like a vain teenage boy when taking pictures of the arms! By the way, what ARE those things called? It's like a saddlebag, but on my upper arm. Maybe it's just a "well-marbled" tricep.

Now I know why those things called sleeves are so in vogue.


In another picture it doesn't look quite so bad, see?
Still not the slender arms of my dreams, but not nightmare inducing either.

Moving on...

The rest of Saturday was filled with the pool, another jacuzzi bath for Ryan and then a quiet evening at home where I ate too much. Perhaps I should have looked at the pictures earlier. Maybe my batwings would have quelled my appetite.

Moving on again...

My high school reunion is next weekend. I'm really not going to make any major progress one way or the other in the next 7 days (weight-wise), but I hope I can make healthy choices and stay as active as possible. Mentally that will give me a boost in facing my old insecurities. While I was "successful" in high school from a college application standpoint, I never felt attractive or desireable. I didn't even go to my senior prom. With hindsight I can see that my attitude hindered me at least as much as my looks. We moved to a new town when I was in middle school and I chose to be negative the entire time we lived there. Had I embraced my new surroundings my life would have been very different.

My goal for reunion is to embrace the positive and live out Philippians 4:8.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

Amen!

BMI is Bunk!

Pubsgal referenced the BMI in a comment to me and I had to post this NPR story.

Take a look at it and quit feeling pushed around by a stupid (misleading) statistic! Instead let's pay attention to how we feel and how our clothes fit. Can I get an amen?

Why Am I Up So Late?

This is like TWO HOURS past my bedtime!

Reason 1
Music practice. In trying to reduce my carbon footprint I carpooled with a bandmate. Which means that I had to say later.

Reason 2
Lost. I'm almost done with Season 3 and I'm totally sucked in.

Reason 3
Bye Bye Pie. This blog makes me LAUGH!

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend flew by!

Saturday I did my traditional walk and breakfast with my friend B. We did about 75 minutes at a good pace. I had hoped to run a little bit, but B had a lot on her mind, so we ended up talking and walking the whole time. Perhaps we can start running again next week.

That afternoon I took my girl to the park with a book and a blanket. Sitting in the shade with the breeze off the water is heavenly. I feel so blessed to live where I do! Here is a picture of my girl at the park earlier this month. She seems to enjoy the park too.

You can see the tumor on her right shoulder. Fortunately it does not seem to cause her much pain. I'm monitoring that closely.

My plans for Saturday night kind of fell through, but I really didn't mind too much. Hey, at least I saved some calories by not drinking! I watched some more Lost episodes and worked on my cross stitch. I'm now in Season 3 of Lost and boy is it convoluted. Jack and Claire are siblings? And is Juliet good or evil?

I don't have any recent pics of my current cross stitch project, but here is a picture of the blanket I made for my nephew. He's now 4 and helping to hold the blanket in this pic. My sister had selected a Beatrix Potter theme for the nursery, so the blanket was intended to match. I chose a red patterned border once we learned it was a boy.

Sunday I went to church, spent a couple of hours catching up at work, ran some errands and did more cross stitch. Then I had dinner with a friend I have not seen for 6 years. She was in town for business. It was so nice to catch up with her!

I did not do any exercise on Sunday, but I plan to play tennis today after work. I hope the weather cooperates. Eating-wise I'm doing ok. I'm proud of myself for tracking all weekend. Woot!