Urgh. After a virtuous start to the day, yesterday ended in a haze of drunkenness. I woke up early and went to Curves with Janice, then went into work, toiled for a few hours, and then went to Target and Ross with Lindsay and Alex and bought George a light green linen shirt to wear to White Linen Night. Okay, they didn’t have any white linen, okay? I dressed up in my favorite new white dress (with some black print on it, but mostly white, see picture here and please note pose in picture is silly pose not to be taken seriously) and my highest, most uncomfortable heels (one must occasionally suffer for beauty) and George and I went to the pub to meet Lindsay and her boyfriend, Matt #2. (Before he moved to the neighborhood, there was a boy named Matt from Boston. Matt #2 is the second Matt from Boston. You can’t call them both Boston Matt, you see. Hence Matt #2. I like to think he harbors no bitterness towards being #2, especially in light of the fact that we never see Matt #1 anymore. Hmmm. This is Pam’s hangover talking. Babbling.) After a few drinks (okay, 2.5 vodka and sodas) we headed toward Julia Street, in the Warehouse District, where all the rich people had congregated in their pristine white clothes (how do they keep it all clean? There is a reason I don’t own much in white. Evidenced by the drink I spilled on myself at the beginning of the night. Sigh.) We looked at a little art. Pam + alcohol + Glassblowing place gallery = not a good idea. Fortunately, I was able to keep myself and the glass from any harm.

However, one strange thing did happen. A girl stopped me and said something along the lines of “don’t take this the wrong way” and proceeded to say she loved my dress. Okay, so far so good. Now, this wasn’t a large girl, but she was curvy and busty and, well, not slender, but not fat either. But she was expressing some surprise that cute styles like the one I was wearing were available in, well, our large sizes. It was hard to decide whether I should be insulted or not. Had she just said “nice dress” it would have been fine. But it was the “I can’t believe someone of our size can find a cute dress like that.” Hmmm. I guess it was really more about the fact that designers don’t make the cute styles in larger sizes, for the most part. But I guess I would have preferred to have been noticed for wearing a cute dress, instead of a plus-size girl wearing a nice dress. Anyway.

A glass of wine there and then we were off to find something to eat. Our favorite pizza place in the French Quarter had closed down (wah!) so we went to a sushi restaurant. Yum. But our waiter liked us, so gave us Sake Bombs. Blech. Sake in beer? Splashed on dress. Oh well, at least it was clear.

After that, we went to see a band play that we really like. It’s a cover band, mostly. I really only like cover bands. I’m not ashamed to admit it! I only mean in the “going to see live music” sense. Not in general. Of course, I’d prefer to see Pulp or Coldplay or Morrissey or Blur live, but that’s really not an option. So the next best thing is a band playing Beatles covers and fun Irish drinking songs. (So of course we drank, etc, etc.)

Went back to the pub. One more beer and then home. And a half a liter of the supposed magic hangover preventer, Pedialyte. Can I say it didn’t work for me? So head is hurting today, brain a bit mushy. But it was worth it. And I still have flex points left!

Yes! Yes! Laurie got it! Thank you Laurie! It’s The Confessions of Max Tivoli.” Although, after browsing on Amazon for a while, I had almost convinced myself it was “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” And now I want to read both! Thanks Laurie and Beth! Yay! And I’ll need a book (or two) to read on the plane when I go to DC next week…

Can someone help meeee?

George and I went to Barnes & Noble last night (I ended up splurging and buying the new David Sedaris book – God, I love that man) and I was looking for a book that I think I’ve read about, but now I think I might have imagined the whole thing (in which case I’d better start writing – it’s a brilliant idea! But no, I’m sure I didn’t imagine it) but it’s a book about a guy who starts out old and ends up young. He ages backwards. I think it’s newish. Gawd. Vague enough? See, when I worked at Barnes & Noble, sometimes if someone came up to me with only that to go on, I would not be pleased (but sometimes, if I was in a good mood, I would relish the challenge) so I didn’t ask. Plus, what if I did imagine it?

So if anyone has any idea what I’m talking about, please let me know what book this is!

This working 10+ hours a day is really getting to me. I am so not good at this. I know lots of people do this all the time, and bravo to them, but I would much rather be at home doing something productive. Like watching TV. Ha! But at least I am doing some design work right now, which helps a lot.

Last night I got sucked into Newlyweds. It was good for knitting to. I estimate I’m about 2/3 of the way through the blanket I’m making for Ren’s baby. The blanket I want to finish before I go see her. In 8 days. Gaa!

Woo! Another two pounds gone! I can’t believe how much weight I still can lose in one week. I guess I expected it to slow down by now. Then again, I am not quite halfway to my goal, and I did start exercising more regularly in the past couple of weeks. So it’s really not surprising I guess that I’m losing steadily right now. I just hope I can keep it up for at least another six weeks or so. (Actually, two pounds a week for the next fifteen weeks would put me right on goal, but I’m not that optimistic. But wouldn’t that be cool?)

It would be cool if I could reach my goal by the end of the year – that’s 21 weeks away. Hmmm…30.6 lbs in 21 weeks…that’s about 1.5 lbs per week. Not including the inevitable plateau that I’ll hit with ten pounds to go. (Everyone else hits it, I think it’s unavoidable, especially considering Thanksgiving. And Christmas. And New Years.) Or maybe I should shoot for one year since I began WW, February 19, 2005. (Well, a year and a day. 52 weeks. Whatever.) Or maybe I shouldn’t worry about when I hit my goal. But I’m trying to look beyond my sister’s wedding because I’m totally afraid I’ll fall apart right after it.

This morning I was also thinking about what I’ve learned so far. Or how I’ve changed my eating habits. Because of course that’s the key, blah blah blah. What prompted this was my waffle breakfast. It was very tasty. So much that before I started WW, I would’ve made two more. Why the heck not? I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. But I wouldn’t have tried very hard to stop myself, either. I would’ve had a half-hearted debate in my head but the waffles would’ve won.

And they wouldn’t have been whole-wheat waffles, either. And they wouldn’t have had just jam on them. I think maybe that’s what I’ve really learned – what to eat. My days used to begin with cinnamon toast or Froot Loops or something else that may not have been out-and-out unhealthy, but certainly not a great choice. And more than two slices of toast or one cup of cereal. And fast food, though I didn’t eat it often, wasn’t a no-no. Fried foods, chips with my sandwich, a pint or two of beer after work, a piece of birthday cake (and not my own) – these were all normal and I hardly thought twice about eating them. Now I think twice, three times, or more. Mostly I decide it’s not worth it. But sometimes I decide it is. (Particularly when it comes to cake. Yum. And a few beers on the weekend, because that’s more than just beer, it’s part of being social and hanging out with my friends and having a good time and that’s the most important thing of all.)

So now I eat grilled fish. One or one and a half cups of cereal instead of three or four. Baked chips, grilled vegetables, smaller portions, salads, things like that. Whenever I used to read about someone who lost weight by switching to “grilled chicken and lots of vegetables” I never believed it. How boring! But now I see that it’s not so bad.

Last night was our neighborhood’s Night Out Against Crime. Or Pam Stuffs Herself. Yum! I had a burger, some bites of lots of random things, and lots of desserts. Yum, yum, yum. But I didn’t go over points. So yay!

Am feeling much better today. Got a sort of decent night’s sleep. But this working 8-6 is a bit much for me. I am not the kind of person who has the stamina to stare at a computer screen for ten hours a day. And when I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is look at a computer. So I really don’t understand how George does it. He is probably staring at his computer screen 16 hours a day. And most of that is voluntary. And he wonders why his back hurts?

Anyway, all I have to do is make it through the next three weeks of work and then I’ll be working the more reasonable hours of 8-4. Highly exciting. But right now the marketing creative guy at work is on vacation (in London, the lucky dog) so I finally get to do a little design. But the man, genius though he is, is still using the original round one-button mouse and tiny keyboard that came with his Mac. Don’t understand that at all.

Tonight is our neighborhood’s Night Out Against Crime. Or as George calls it, “the perfect night to burglarize everyone’s house.” Is sort of exciting to be part of a real community. I love it. Because my last name starts with M, I have to bring a casserole. Hopefully they won’t mind the frozen lasagne I’m going to heat up. Do they really think I’m going to make a casserole after work on a Tuesday? Who does that? Okay, I suppose it’s not so far-fetched, but nevertheless I will not be creating something tonight. No indeedy. And I must try to stop myself from gorging on the hot dogs, hamburgers, and multiple salads (A-H), casseroles (I-P), and desserts (Q-Z) that will be on offer. Tomorrow is weigh-in, after all.

I went to the grocery store last night after I went to Curves to pick up aforementioned frozen lasagne and came across some low-fat waffles. Two for two points. Yum. I love waffles. And with blueberry jam, even better than plain blueberry waffles. I know this isn’t some extraordinary discovery, I know that low-fat waffles have been around, but I never looked for them before. Yum yum yum. I love finding new low-point foods. And as I don’t eat syrup on my waffles anyway, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. And jam is nearly as good as butter as a topping. (Let’s face it, nothing is as good as butter, but we’re talking about my homemade blueberry jam here.) Now I can just imagine the possibilities here….waffles for breakfast, waffle sandwich for lunch, waffles and a fried (in Pam, natch) egg for dinner. Yum.

Zzzz. Sleepy. Didn’t sleep so well last night. Shouldn’t have slept until 10 yesterday. It’s hard to believe that 10 in the morning is late. Remember when sleeping late meant 2 in the afternoon? Ahh, how I miss my teenage years. Not really.

Had a pretty relaxing weekend, though. I did eat a lot of crap. I used something like 15 of my flex points on Saturday on nothing good. Candy, mostly. Ugh. A little beer. Just a bunch of junk. Ah well.

Went to the pub briefly on Friday night. Went shopping on Saturday, went to the library, saw The Village. (Was pretty good. I actually managed to keep my eyes open for most of it instead of cowering behind my hand like I do during most scary movies. I am a big wimp when it comes to even vaguely scary movies.) Sunday went to a few stores, mostly read book I got out at library. Watched The Station Agent with George. Mowed the lawn.

I’m just glad I didn’t have to go anywhere. Am looking forward to lazing around next weekend. But sitting around the house is getting slightly stressful as we have so much stuff and nowhere to put it until George finishes the garage and we build more shelves. Etc, etc. But we don’t have tools to build shelves. We need a circular saw.

Doctor gave me shot of some anti-inflammatory. I think it’s a steroid. He put me on the pills last time I went to him and they made me very buzzy and jittery. Right now I feel like I could run around the building a few times. It’s a big building, mind you. Thank goodness he didn’t give me the pills this time. I remember I never slept well while I was on them but I was never tired. It was a bit magical, but other than that, I didn’t like the jittery feeling. It reminds me of how I felt when I smoked and I wanted a cigarette. That “I desperately need a cigarette right now” feeling. All the time. Bad.

Want to go buy some Lancome mascara. I think the buzzy jitters are giving me shopping crazy mania. Woooo! Had lovely Chick-Fil-A, low pointy lunch. (Grilled chicken sammich, fruit cup. That fruit cup is good. I am not a fruit cup person, seeing as they usually consist of mushy pears, mushy peaches, those weird cherries, and maybe some strange grapes. But this! This was crisp apples…mandarin orange sections…firm, delicious grapes…tart pineapple…yum yum yum! And only 1 point for the small. Ya!)

Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle. Went to doctor this morning. Got a bagful of medicine. Yay! Love nice doctors who take pity on poor patients with insurance that barely pays for allergy medicine. As soon as I can get signed up with the mail-order pharmacy, though, I’ll be awash in Allegra-D. Can’t wait!

Went to Curves last night. Made a nice healthy dinner. I’m just a freakin’ model of healthiness. Except for the York Peppermint Pattie I scarfed down in the car on the way back from Curves. But as it happens, I did choose the lowest-point chocolate candy I could find at Walgreens. One of those big patties is only 3 points. Yum, and worth every bite. But on top of the oatmeal raisin cookie I had at lunch, it probably was unnecessary. Ah well. But now I’m on antibiotics for the next ten days and doesn’t that mean no drinking? Phooey.

Am planning on a nice, relaxing weekend. Going to the Quarter with George to find him some doc martens. May splurge on some Lancome mascara with my babysitting money. I would never buy $22 mascara otherwise. Plus, dammit, I’ve lost 25 lbs. I should buy myself a little beauty gift. And if I buy waterproof, it’ll come in handy for the wedding too. I’m good at justification, huh?

Also would like to see a movie this weekend. Have much catching up to do. Want to see Anchorman. And The Village, before whatever the (supposedly lame) twist ending becomes public knowledge. And the new Harry Potter is playing at the IMAX. (I always want to say the iMac.) Could end up being a busy weekend. Also must mow the lawn. It is getting very overgrown. But heat index is hovering around 105. Not nice. And I have mean things to say to people who insist I wear long pants while mowing and weedwhacking. I don’t care if I get rocks embedded in my shins. Otherwise I’ll pass out from heat.

Two weeks and I’ll be in DC! Shopping at H&M and IKEA. Can’t wait. Ooh, can get some new clothes for new job. V important. Woo!

Blech. Still feeling ill. Last night I couldn’t sleep from the snot! The snot! And we were all out of Breathe-Right strips, which I used to ridicule, but now I worship. But tomorrow I’m going back to the doctor, and hopefully he will shoot me full of drugs (in a good way, new job people, if you’re reading this) and make me better.

But last night, George took me to La Crepe Nanou, this wonderful cute French restaurant a few blocks from where Kristina and I lived Uptown. We never went there, though, which is a shame because it’s delicious and not too expensive. I’d been there once before with my mom a few years ago and I still remember the salad I had there. It was very simple, but the lettuce was so good…lettuce! It was Boston lettuce. Dang. So we had a salad. And then I had a crabmeat and creamed spinach crepe. It was stuffed with crabmeat. And topped. George had a swiss cheese and onion crepe. I don’t like onions, but I could’ve eaten the whole thing. Yum.

Then for dessert we split (uh, 25%/75% perhaps) a crepe filled with sliced almonds, sugar, and topped with coffee ice cream and whipped cream. Gaaaa! So good! I could eat that again yes indeedy. But I have hardly any flex points left after that dinner, so I guess not.

Went to Curves after work yesterday. I really do like it, even though I’m now wondering if I overexerted myself. What the heck. I’m going back tonight anyway. Usually exercise makes me feel better, not worse. Hmmm.

Oh yeah – I didn’t even mention that I lost two of the 2.2 pounds I gained on the cruise. Woo!

And now I can reveal my big secret…

I got a new job!

It’s at the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Yes, I am going to be a good Catholic girl! (Oh wait, I already am!) I will be the Coordinator of Internet Services and I’m going to make lots more money and I will be able to pay my bills without stress! And the hours are good (8-4) and I’ll get a window office (7th floor but probably overlooking the interstate) and I’ll get to do some design work. But I’ll really really miss the people I work with here. I love the people I work with now. But I’ll still see them. After all, Janice and I belong to Curves together and we’re going to take dance classes together. So it’ll be okay.

On another note, last night I babysat my cousin Max who is the cutest baby on earth. (Oops, in case any of my friends with new babies are reading this, I mean it about your baby too!) He was babbling and cooing and giggling and all the cute stuff that 13 month olds do. He walks but only if you give him a finger to hold. It’s heart-melting stuff, I gotta say.

Well, now I’ve got to write a training manual for my job. Gah!