This · is · the · beginning

I'm declaring 1/1/09 Day one even though I didn't know about this until today, just for the sake of simple tracking.

But yeah. I wanna do this. I don't really feel like joining the community so I'm just going to post my list here. It may take a while for me to develop the list... but this will be my list post. :) YAY!

( Follow the cut to the list of TO DO's )
Total Items: 101
Total Completed: 15
Percentage Complete: 14.85%

Definitely the change I made that I'm the most proud of is my choice to live a healthy lifestyle.

"I had been overweight my entire life. I was always taller than everyone at school and combining that with overeating, I was just LARGER than everyone - always.
I hated exercising. I was the girl who used to finish that required mile run in middle school walking in tears. I never considered myself to be capable of doing anything athletic. I had a growing dissatisfaction with my body and competing ideas in the back of my mind -- "SOMEDAY I will get healthy... SOMEDAY I will lose weight..." and the scarier "Maybe I'll always be fat...”
As I grew into the 6’2 woman I am today I continued to gain weight. I married my husband and was so happy that the weight kept piling on. I began to be unhappy with how I looked, FELT horrible, was lethargic and even just sitting around FELT uncomfortable. I knew I had to do something, but a visit to the Doctor in December 2006 was a reality check – I weighed 294 pounds!
I was searching online for healthy eating ideas and found SparkPeople.com. I was hooked instantly. SparkPeople gave me EXACTLY the kind of guidance I needed. I devoured the articles and learned that the knowledge I was gaining was indeed the power to make the healthy choices. I had a vague idea of what foods were obviously NOT healthy and what foods WERE, but no concept of how much to eat AT ALL. I became so used to eating frozen food and fast food; I forgot how much I LOVED cooking. Now I cook nearly every day.
I decided to join a gym -- I figured the financial investment would force me into using it. It would be the FIRST TIME I had EVER stepped foot into a gym. I could count on one hand the number of times I had purposefully tried to exercise before. I started slowly by just walking on a treadmill 3 times per week. Throughout my journey I continued to challenge myself by adding different types of workouts and intensity. I gave myself rewards when goals were accomplished and now someday hope to compete in marathons and possibly a triathlon.
I have now had TWO birthdays within a healthy weight range! I have achieved so many of my goals -- it makes me feel confident about achieving other goals that I want to reach in life. This has meant everything to me. I used to look into my future and imagine myself getting more and more obese and my health declining rapidly. I feared not only being an embarrassment to my future children, but also setting a horrible example for them.

Now I look to the future and I'm EXCITED about growing old -- I know that I can maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle and that I can continue to do so as I age. I know how to eat healthy and live healthy and I'm excited that I can pass this on to my children."

So I'm feeling less sore than my last update. ;) HAHAHA. I'm halfway through that whole Making the Cut thing, so pretty soon I'll be able to cross it off my list.

The biggest news is about what I'll be doing at the end of this month! I guess it hadn't been announced when I made my last post, but I'm going to be a featured member at the first ever SparkPeople.com convention!!! :D I'm SOOOOO EXCITED!!! :D There are only 5 members being featured. We're going to do a "Member Discussion Panel". They'll play a video about us, then we'll come out and give a little speech and then open it up to questions.

The best part is that it's in SAN DIEGO. And my BEST FRIEND who I haven't seen in over FIVE YEARS lives in San Diego. SO yeah. I'm stoked.

CONVENTION INFO

And I had to make this VIDEO to submit in preparation as well, so check that out if you like.

I'm also planning and preparing to try to run a Marathon in December. So that's exciting. More recently -- I'm going to run an 8K race (almost 5 miles) while I'm in San Diego and I'm pretty excited for that.

It doesn't look like we're gonna be getting that dog we talked about. Apparently my hubby had kind of a confrontation w/ our management about it, too. He mentioned the dog and that he was a Boxer Mix and apparently Boxers (even mixes) are not allowed because they TOO are considered "VICIOUS BREEDS" by our apartment management. And Chows. Which our neighbor across the hall has. UGH. It's so ridiculous. But now that they've had such a memorable conversation about it, I think it'd be less likely for us to be able to fly under the radar with it so...... maybe it was meant to be.

I guess that's it for now. :)

I don't post here very often so just a little update.

I'm sore.

Been working out hard today and yesterday. Not that I normally DON'T but I started a new more rigorous program and I'm feeling it.

And starving! :D I didn't up my calories yet for the new amount I'm burning and I need it!!! I just pilfered some Samoas cookies from a coworker's drawer. Not the best source of nutrition but I had to have SOMETHING.

Ummmmmm I've been able to cross some things off of my 101 in 1001 list. I made it in a postdated LJ entry so if you go to my LJ you should find it in the top two entries if you ever want to check and see where I'm at with that stuff.

Right now I'm just eager to go HOME. I still have almost 1.5hrs left of work. :P WAH.

Roscoe is still missing. We got another dog for about a week, but he was too much of a puppy for my husband to handle at home by himself while also trying to work on his dissertation. It's been a while since we gave him back, but now a friend of his is looking to rehome his dog and he's 4 years old and house trained and all that good stuff -- so we are considering it. I'm a bit gunshy. I fell in love with our week long housemate and then was totally devastated when we decided ultimately it was needed for hubby's sanity to give him back.

WELL. I think that's it for now.

TA TA!

1. Can you cook?
2. What was your dream growing up?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. What zodiac sign are you?
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
9. Worst Habit?
10. Do we know each other outside of lj?
11. What is your favorite sport?
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
16. Do you have any pets?
17. Do you know how to do the macarena?
18. What time is it where you are now?
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22. What color eyes do you have?
23. Ever been arrested?
24. Bottle or Draft?
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it?
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
27. What's your favorite bar to hang at?
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30. Do you swear a lot?
31. Biggest pet peeve?
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Bender from Futurama. OF COURSE.

What's the last thing you ate?
Pretzel sticks w/ Naturally More Peanut Butter

( Keep Reading about foood )

:( After making a lovely list yesterday that included teaching our sweet dog to do some nice obedience and trick things, and being AT THE LIBRARY checking out dog traiing books...

I get a call from Henry that he's GONE.

:(

He broke his leash while on a walk w/ Henry and ran.

He ran into the woods.

And we couldn't find him.

He has tags with our info and is microchipped, and we put up a ton of flyers. I've listed him on every website I can find as a lost pet, and when the shelters/vets are open we're taking more flyers to notify all of them as well. Shortly we're gonna go looking for him again.

But I'm still paralyzed at the thought that he may never come back.

I had like 3 dreams last night of finding him. Two different real locations, and one totally bogus imaginary place. So I don't think any of them were visionary, although we're likely to cover the two real locations during our search today anyway.

I got bit by 3 imaginary dogs in my last dream last night while searching for Roscoe. But I did find him in every dream. Maybe that's a sign? Or just a sign of denial?

I'm totally heartbroken. We've only had him for almost 3 weeks, but he's been our entire focus these weeks and we totally and completely love him. I was crying SO MUCH yesterday and last night. I didn't shed ONE SINGLE TEAR when our apartment was broken into and our STUFF taken. This is so completely different.

Henry is worse because he ran while HE was walking him and he feels to blame and also feels like Roscoe ran away FROM HIM. This dog was ATTACHED AT HIS HIP ALL THE TIME WE HAD HIM. He would whine and cry if he left the room for more than a couple minutes. When he came back he'd whip himself into a happy frenzy -- the only time I ever saw him try to jump up on someone. There is no way this dog did not love Henry entirely. I really cannot comprehend why he didn't come back to him. Neither can Henry and it's killing him.

After the horrible breakin, all the work we did helping Roscoe get better over Christmas vacation (he had a hard time with new people), all the things we've acquired to make our home a good one for him (quality dog food, dog bed, crate, bowls, leash, a ton of treats, toys (that he thus far ignores), so not just a money investment, but a huge time and emotional investment...

We just feel so empty and deserted.

Can anyone offer any hope? We're worried that although many dogs may run away and come back after a few days, he might not be able to find his way. What with the woods and not being home for very long total since we got him... but he is a hound mix (some kind of beagle)? But it also STORMED last night. *sigh*

Also if anyone is the praying type, please lend a prayer that our sweet Roscoe will be safely returned to us -- whether we find him, he finds us, or someone finds him and brings him to us, it does not matter. We just want him safe and HOME.

...the most amazing food description.

"Sticks of fresh pineapple rolled in honey and coated in sesame seeds."

YUM!!!!!! OH MY!!!! :D That sounds like heaven. I just had to document it somewhere.

So...

I've been having to take a break from running due to having my Iliotibial Band being irritated. :P It's causing pain on the outside of my left knee. It started on Saturday near the end of my 6.55mile run (WOOHOO!! LONGEST RUN EVER!) and that day sucked afterward, but felt mostly normal on Sun-Tues, so I tried running again on Wednesday, and it immediately returned. So I'm taking a longer break this time and I read up on stretches and things I can do, and what to avoid.

And there's a whole lot of can't do. WAH. And I haven't been DOING the CAN DO yet. WAH. But I will. Tomorrow I have to work in the morning, so I'm thinking I'll head to the gym afterward and try some pool action. Then maybe try the rowing machine since I think that will be ok. I've always wanted to try it but have been to scared/nervous. Now's my chance. :D hahaha.

Otherwise things have been ok lately. I've been cooking up a storm this week -- well ok, I've cooked TWO amazing new recipes this week.

A Cuban Black Bean Stew (featuring my first ever use of HAM HOCKS (smoked)) and it was AMAZING. Last night was Thai Tilapia Shrimp Burgers. Really patties that I served in pitas w/ spinach. SO GOOD also. I felt a little creepy making a paste from the shrimp, but the result was so amazing.

It is SO FREEZING in my office. I have on a heavy long sleeved shirt and a sweatshirt on top of it and my nose is still like an ice cube.

I finished the T-Shirt Quilt I was working on!

FLICKR

So that's nice. :D That was a couple weekends ago now, but I'm so scarce on lj. :P

I woke up kind of late this morning and rushedrushedrushed, forgot my lunch. But my sweet husband brought it to me at work. So yay on that. Gonna go drop off a couple of books at the library at lunchtime.

I WANT A BIKE FOR CHRISTMAS. They're so expensive though. I think I might be willing to make the bike be my entire Christmas. That's how bad I want to become a cyclist. :) hehehe. The real thing I want to be -- I triathlete. And I can't swim very well (YET!), but it's hard to want to work on swimming when the only reason I want to swim so to do a triathlon, and I can't do a triathlon without a bike, so swimming just makes me feel annoyed about how I don't have a bike.

As if that makes sense.

Um but I know we want Rock Band 2. But my theory on that is, buy the game now, upgrade peripherals later. Instead of buying the huge special edition set. Because we have all the instruments now -- we don't need new ones. The new ones are just supposed to be "better". I checked out the drum kit and it doesn't look any different, just supposed to be more sturdy I think. *shrug* The guitars are supposed to have a "sturdier more precise strum bar" and the tilt sensor is supposed to be better for going into overdrive. (We have definitely had some frantic guitar tilting and yelling GO INTO OVERDRIVE at the tv moments... hahaha)

But anyway.

I guess that's it for now.

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Traditional, Vibrant, and Tasteful

13 Islamic, 8 Impressionist, 5 Ukiyo-e, -13 Cubist, -15 Abstract and -2 Renaissance!

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

I DO prefer geometric patterns and vibrant colors like, 85-90% of the time. :) I dunno about necessarily being a big Islamic art fan, but the descriptions of the personality is very true I think.

.... want to be rich so I can wear THIS dress...

So gorgeous.

I am going to try to be a flapper for Halloween, but I'm skeptical if I'm going to find anything to really be able to pull it off. I considered buying fringe to just make something, but fringe is expensive per yard as well! It'd have to be fringed like... just at the bottom maybe two rows or something. MAYBE 3. And that's assuming I can find a nice cheap base dress to put it on...

But I'm gonna hit the thrift store and see what I can find, and my backup plan is trying to be Velma from Scooby Doo.

But really I want to live in the 1920's. :) Just for the clothes...

I've been kind of on a quest to make awesome bread ever since I first made Pizza Crust. I was fascinated with the fact that it actually ROSE and behaved like it was supposed to and then tasted so good! :D

And I made a Rye ROCK.

Then a really dense Rye bread that didn't really rise, but we ate it anyway and it tasted good but wasn't really like.. BREAD like.

Then a really dense Sourdough bread that didn't really rise but we ate anyway, yadda yadda.

But yesterday, I made REAL BREAD. It turned out SO PERFECT. :D I checked out this book from the library that I wanted to buy but was really expensive, and they had it at the library so HURRAH! :D The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Apparently she has authored a few different "bibles" such as a Cake Bible and whatever else I'm not sure.

Anyway, the instructions are so amazingly detailed and wonderful, and the technique so researched and perfected, I even messed up a little bit and it still came out amazing! WOOHOO!!! I'm so excited!! I will definitely be trying some more different kinds. :D And making this one again. We had one of the two small loaves I made for dinner last night, and will have the other one tomorrow night. :D

WHO AM I???

I'm a runner, swimmer, weight lifter, bread baker, chef, all these things that I never really considered myself to be except I did kind of think I was a good cook before... but never baked bread! :D I feel so empowered since tackling my health to take on all kinds of things I've wanted to do but never done.

Maybe I will start fermenting things like girlreinvented. ;) They make this AMAZING Cucumber thing at this restaurant in Huntsville, AL called Bento Box. SO GOOD. I got it probably the last two times we went. MMMMMMMMMMM.

FREAKANGELS -- a free comic on the web by the incomparable Warren Ellis and an amazing artist I was previously unfamiliar with named Paul Duffield.

It's at FREAKANGELS.com.

SO GO CHECK IT OUT! I'm seriously in love with it.