The V8 on the ceiling

was caused by me dropping a can on the Spanish tile in the kitchen. There is not a corner that was spared. I'm still finding it today. Thanks again to my friend the Magic Eraser. I know you all were dying of curiosity. I suppose I could have made up a REALLY good story ; )

I'm so busy today and not in an altogether great mood so I'm going to read some blogs and get back to work. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Monday Mix Tape

Another weekend gone in the blink of an eye. It was a good mix of hard work and relaxing as always. We've made it through the experimental stage of scraping off 60+ years of paint on our house and are at the "doing it" stage now. We have about a 4 hour window in the morning where we can work on the worst side before the sun is directly above us. It it is hellish work but we manage to have some fun.

husband: Shouldn't you be wearing eye protection?
me: yes but I'm not going to wear my Kate Spade sunglasses with all this dust.
husband: We should buy some safety goggles.
me: Yes I know but I haven't found any I liked.
husband: What, are you looking for Hello Kitty ones or something?

It's funny because it's true. Well, I wasn't thinking Hello Kitty exactly but something for girls at least!

Even though I sweat through my clothes all weekend, I haven't been to the gym in a week! I have my bag packed for tonight and even though I usually take Mondays off, Jack Sh*t made a comment last week that has stuck with me. He said he doesn't schedule an off day from working out since life usually takes care of that for him. SO TRUE. Something usually comes up in my busy life so no more scheduled "off" day.

Speaking of things coming up, I've got to get out of bed earlier than I do. We've already covered why I don't work out in the morning but I need to not be cutting it so close. There was V8 on the ceiling this morning and a neighbors dog was loose and I was so distracted our dog grabbed one of the sandwich thins I had out for our lunch. Complete chaos. I also went out last night and failed to do much preparation for the week so now I have to go to the gym, stop at Trader Joes then go home and make dinner while assembling the meatloaf muffins I planned on making yesterday. I'm leaving a half hour early today to try and make up some time. Thank God it rained Saturday night so I don't have to add watering to the chore list. There just never seems to be enough time. I don't know how you people with kids do it!!

I guess this post was as chaotic as my morning and this week is not going to be much better. I'm going to try to fit it all in and keep my sanity. Luckily I have Friday off or I would really be stressed out right now! Is it crazy that I look forward to a day off so I have time to scrape paint?

Sweat Management

Sweating has been a hot topic (pun intended) on my blog and many more lately so I thought I would share a few things that have helped me manage it a little - mostly to spare the people around me from having to see me dripping or worse, get any on them.

I'm that girl at the gym that Gigi wrote about yesterday. The one with all the "gear". I will spend ANY amount of money to make myself comfortable while working out.

Okay here are my new "favorite things". If I was Oprah I would give you all one of everything!

The Halo Headband - I bought mine at REI
This thing is great. I spent $12.95 on a sweat band because I didn't like the way the traditional sweatbands look but this one blows the old school ones away. It's made of anti-microbial material and there are some pads on the inside that block the sweat from dripping in your eyes. It's a miracle people. No sweat in the contacts is a beautiful thing and it looks cute!

The Paktowl - Also purchased at REI
I started using these on the 3-Day and have bought a new one to use in the gym. They are ultra-light, super absorbent towels that come in a pouch. They are pricey but they last forever (if you don't lose them like I do) My gym provides towels but they are too big and rough and they always slide off the machine. This one has a tag that unsnaps and you can hook it on something. I also like it because it's more subtle than the huge white towel when I'm wiping myself off. Damn I'm seriously more worried about my appearance than I thought I was!


Incase ipod armband - bought at Target

Fat [Free] Me posted about her smelly armband at the gym and motivated me to finally buy a more comfortable one that was washable (and hadn't been chewed on by the dog). I love this although if you have skinny arms it would probably be too big. I'll let y'all know when mine falls off because my arms are too skinny ;) Thank you for everyone who suggested to put my headphones on before I put my shirt on. Awesome Idea I never would have thought of. Now I can wait until the Motorola wireless headphones are cheaper! I still find it weird to walk around listening to my own soundtrack. I feel like I'm in a movie!

I'm done plugging sweat management products now. No one has paid me to review these or anything but Al Roker said it was over 90 degrees in 80% of the United States today so I'm sure I'm not the only one having "issues".

Have a great day everyone!

How much did she lose this week?

ZERO!

That was of course expected after my 7 pounds in 7 days. I'm thrilled that has stayed off!

I really need to get back in the gym tonight but I got 5 hours sleep due to my concert last night. It's going to be tough to drag myself there but I wore my workout clothes to work as extra motivation. My ankle is killing me from standing for 5 hours but it was worth it. One thing that's great about being obsessed with being at the front of the stage is that there was no opportunity to go to the bar. My friend was kind enough to get some water through the crowd to my sister and I who were up there dancing like fools. It was great fun and I'm sure I burned some good calories...I was tempted to wear my heart rate monitor but that's just a little over the top ;)

Time to work toward that next goal of 10%. Bring it on!!

Hot-lanta

I'm actually happy to be back at work today in my dark and cool office. I must have changed clothes 10 times over 2 days because I haven't stopped sweating! There is still so much I want to get done outside and it's looking like most projects will have to be done in the very early morning hours or put off until the fall. I just keep reminding myself that the sweating helps the pounds come off. I did manage to drag myself around the neighborhood for a good walk with the dogs.

I did sort of okay this weekend despite the fact that nothing really went as planned. It was supposed to be a nice quiet one but ended up being as action packed as ever. At least we blew up the baby pool and sat with our feet in it for a while. We're so classy ;)

I had great intentions for the week until I realized I have a concert to go to tomorrow and I should have planned on going to the gym tonight instead of taking my usual break on Monday. I guess I'll do BL Yoga at home tonight and then get back in the gym on Wednesday. There never seem to be enough hours in the day but I'm trying so hard to make it all work.

Saturdays walk in the heat proved to me how much better shape I'm in and that gives me the motivation to keep going. I felt strong and athletic sweating bullets and was proud of my pace!

Here's to a good week ahead...

7 in 7. I've learned my lesson!

I have literally kicked my own ass this week. Last night I was laying limp in a pool of my own sweat on the stretching mat and thinking about how hard I worked all week. A weeks worth of work to lose the 7 pounds I gained the 10 days previous. Totally not worth it. I have managed to lose all those pounds this week but I wish like hell they were "new" pounds. I'm going to remember this week when I'm making decisions about eating and drinking.

I'm proud of myself for what I've done this week but I have this underlying fear that I'm still working at it like there is an end to it. I'm hoping it will get easier as time goes on.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Back on the scale

Even though I didn't do my official weigh in at weight watchers this week, I've managed to lose 5 of the 7 pounds I put on over the past 2 weeks. I think I will be ready to go back again next Wednesday. That just proves to me that it's never "real" pounds when you pack it on that fast. It was just all the excess water and crap I retained from eating and drinking like a maniac.

Today will be my 3rd day in a row at the gym. I've noticed something interesting about working out after work. I have mentioned that I was trying to become a workout in the morning person but doing it after work instead of sitting in traffic has made me a MUCH nicer person when I walk in the door. I think my husband enjoys my happy but sweaty face walking in the door instead of the enraged, crazy woman that comes home after an hour commute in some of the worst traffic in the country. Now I sing out loud as I drive home on the near empty highway with the sunroof open after a good 45 minutes of stress relieving exercise. It's a burden on him to walk and feed the dogs and start dinner but it's working for now and we have a little routine down. I will try to make up for it and insist he relaxes a little more on the weekend.

I'm feeling so much better today than I did at the start of the week. I'm back in control and I have absolutely no obligations this weekend (on purpose!) I applied for some more jobs too. Lets hope that phone rings one of these days. I worked so hard finishing my portfolio website hoping that will get me some interviews! Time for lunch!