Weird.

Feel better today. Yesterday was just weird feeling. Hangovers since I quit smoking are very different. Less painful, more surreal.

Went bike-riding instead of running this morning with Polly. It’s getting to be more and more uncomfortable in the morning, not exactly prime running weather, so riding a bike is a nice change. Breezy. But our neighborhood isn’t really big enough to ride a bike around for more than half an hour, without getting kind of bored. Ah well.

Sunday I’ll be going running with Anne, who is in town to see her mom. Anne’s doing her first marathon next weekend (after Memorial Day), which is very exciting. I’m thrilled that she stuck with her training, and I can’t wait to see how she does. I’m excited about going running with her on Sunday but I dread the weather. But I will run, no matter what, because we’re going to drive to Baton Rouge that afternoon to eat at the Chimes. Yum. Best cheese fries in the world, here I come! And they will no doubt make me extremely ill, but it’ll be totally worth it. (Yes. They serve their cheese fries with gravy. Am I very southern?)

Wish I had a bit of money, I’d paint my bedroom on Monday. But alas. Anyway, I really can’t decide on a color scheme. I need to just pick one and stick to it. It’s not like it can’t be painted over. (Though might be more difficult with red paint, which I’m leaning towards.) Red with white trim and periwinkle accents.

Sucky.

This sucks. And not just for George and me (which it really does) but for anyone else buying a house with someone other than their spouse. Do you have to be married and straight to buy a house? To reap the benefits of homeownership? Are they trying to discourage it? Or do I just live in a crappy state? I don’t understand people sometimes. So tomorrow I will go to the assessor’s office to try to get our exemption taken care of before this stupid law passes. Grrrr.

Down 1.4

Down 1.4 lbs for the week. Helped, no doubt, by the dehydration I was experiencing this morning due to the massive quantities of fine white wine I downed last night. And I do mean fine white wine. We went to a housewarming party, and the man of the house is a sommellier (whatever) for Emeril’s. So you can imagine they weren’t serving cheap plonk like at most parties. And hey, who am I to turn down wine that I’d never be able to afford to drink otherwise? Mmm, and there was fancy cheese and pate and pancetta and crackers and other yummy stuff.

Things might be better this morning had we not gone to the pub after the party. And drank a beer. And did a shot. Oooh, bad idea. Oh well.

Still I lost 1.4 lbs!

Hungry.

Am starving. Have been starving all morning. Probably because Polly and I went running this morning. Have gotten unused to morning exercise in the past few weeks. But as of this morning, I weigh .6 lbs less than last week. Not a spectacular loss, but better than nothing. I hope tomorrow it’s even less, but it’s okay if it’s not.

I really want to go back to the gym soon to see what I weigh on their scale. I haven’t been on it since before I started WW, I think, so I want to see what it says. That will give me a better idea of how much weight I’ve lost since I started.

Last night, George and I and eight of our friends went to see Shrek 2. It was good. I highly recommend. (Even if you haven’t seen the first Shrek, but if you haven’t you really should rent that as well.)

Hungry. Have already eaten cereal for breakfast and as snack, and a 2 point turkey/ham sandwich. And it’s not even 11 yet. Sigh. And I have 18 dollars in my checking account until my next payday. Well, I do have a secret stash but I’m not ready to deposit that just yet. Anne’s coming in this weekend and we’re going to eat at the Chimes, our favorite restaurant/bar from college. Many, many, many happy hours have been spent there. (Not happy hours, but happy as in pleasant hours.) Another reason I’m looking forward to her visit is she’s bringing me some of Kristina’s clothes that don’t fit her anymore and that might fit me now. Hard to say, though, because I have about six inches on Kristina in height. Oh well, the pants will be capris and the dresses will be shirts. Whatever.

Exciting!

Highly exciting news…my boss just told me that three of us in the department will be going on cruises this summer, to familiarize ourselves with the graaaand American Queen. All the way to Baton Rouge and back! And the best part is, I get paid for 16 hours of overtime! I mean, a free sorta working vacation, and money! So very exciting!

Relaxing.

For the first time in a while, I think, I had a weekend where I had to do nothing but reeeelllaaaaxxxx. It was nice. After work on Friday, George and I took Polly and Colin’s dog for a walk, then went to have sushi for dinner. Then we went to the pub (but I only had one beer on account of my antibiotics) and then home. Nice and relaxing.

On Saturday we walked the dog, went to Home Depot, had to rush home because our alarm was going off, then go back to Home Depot to get stuff for the house. Then to Winn-Dixie for groceries. (See how relaxing? I’m putting you to sleep it’s so…well, okay, boring.) Then I made a gorgeous, gourmet-like salad for dinner. On a bed of baby spinach, I placed a piece of grilled tilapia. In the salad I mixed some vinaigrette and feta and sliced almonds and dried blueberries. Yum! And pretty low-pointy.

Yesterday we did a few things around the house, walked dog, then I went and saw Mean Girls (which I enjoyed, but not as much as I thought) and then to another wedding shower for my friend Mandy. I only had eaten eight points worth of food until that point, so I didn’t feel too bad eating cake, etc.

Fascinating, eh? Tonight we’re going to see Shrek 2. Yay! I am going to try to eat few points so I can get candy at the movie theater. Yum!

Regarding my sinus troubles, yesterday during the movie my ear did some weird poppy thing and I don’t know if it’s because everything’s finally going somewhere (sinuses are gross) or what, but at least I haven’t been waking up snotty. And I have barely sneezed all weekend!

Housewarming party

Some pictures from the housewarming party. I think I’d be a shoo-in to be on What Not to Wear if they saw this picture. Well, maybe I’m being a little hard on the dress, but as you can see, it’s too big on top and the straps slip off and it is rather sack-like, i suppose. Even though it’s only just big enough around the hips to not get stuck on them in an unattractive manner. Sigh. I really do need to be on that show. Is it any wonder that no one has said I look like I’ve lost weight? Yeesh. And look at my arms!

P.S. I’m not wearing heels.

05/21/04

Went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor this morning regarding the disgusting post-nasal drip I’ve been experiencing for the past week or so. (Made even more disgusting by the fact that it smells like mildew – sign of infection, thankyouverymuch.) So after he sticks medicine-impregnated cotton up my nose (made me sneeze more while they were up there but then I blew my nose and the goo was gone! Magic.), the good doctor looked up in my nose and informed me that my deviated septum might require surgery because i have a (benign) bone tumor in my nose! Ew. Grody. I don’t think it’s anything that has to happen in the immediate future, but one day. Until then I will get to deal with worsening sinus infections (and smelly goo, I guess.) What a treat.

But the surgery would be under general anesthesia, which appeals to the drama queen in me. But then again, did anyone else see that show on “awareness” during surgery? I think that’s what it was called. Yes, it’s when your brain wakes up in the middle of surgery but your muscles are still paralyzed, so you can’t scream or move or anything. Gaaaa! I’ve had that happen while I was asleep, but while you’re on the operating table? Can you imagine anything more disturbing? One woman on the show was talking about how it happened when she was getting her eyeball removed for some reason. She could see them coming towards her eyeball and then, it went black. Oh my god. And you can feel everything too. Okay, so it’s probably pretty uncommon. But still.

Oh, and I got medicine for my sneezing. Yay.

05/20/04

Gawd, just call me sneezy. I have been sneezing about 20 times a day for the past 10 months or so, and it’s driving me insane. I like to think it started back when I was temping at a warehouse last june. I had to do data entry, and it was so friggin dusty that I could believe that it gave me allergies or something. This was the same temp job I quit because it was so disgusting and therefore had to pay back the Department of Labor almost $500. Blech.

Also, if I may be even more self-centered, can I say that it is a little upsetting to me that I have lost approximately 15-17 lbs and no one has mentioned that I look any smaller. Now, I’m not complaining that people don’t compliment me constantly, I’m complaining that I obviously don’t look any different and clearly losing 15-17 lbs has made no difference in my body. So where was that weight? Has all of my muscle turned back to fat, therefore causing me to lose weight but stay the same size? (And I do know that my hips have barely shrunk, maybe an inch, if that.) Maddening, I tell you. My luck would be this – I’ll lose 35 more pounds (and get to my goal weight) and look the same. Sigh. What I need to find are pictures of myself back in Feburary, before we started WW. Yes.

Oh, and did I really forget to mention that I got a raise yesterday? Yes indeedy. Although it is against company policy to tell anyone how much I got, I think I’m safe in mentioning it here. Yes indeedy, I am now making a whopping 17 cents an hour more! Yippee! That works out to nearly seven dollars a week, before taxes. Now, don’t think I’m being sarcastic – well, okay, I am, but the company isn’t doing terrifically yet (it emerged from bankruptcy two years ago) so we were told to expect bigger raises later. But still, seventeen cents? Why bother?

05/19/04

Holy cow! After a week where I ate at least 113 points over my flex points, I lost 2 pounds! Now, I realize this cannot be sustained for more than one week, but I am truly shocked. Believe me, I stepped on the scale about forty-two times to make sure it was real. Who am I to argue?

Last night, George and I ventured across the river (and through the thick, disgusting swarms of Formosan termites that are out at this time of year, which, by the way, force us to keep our lights off at our house at night. All of them.) so that I could buy the new Morrissey album. It’s good. What I can’t believe is that he’s headlining Lollapallooza. Oh yeah, NOW he headlines Lollapallooza. Not in 1994 or whenever, when I had to drive a bazillion miles to Austin to see a bunch of crap I hated, but now. Figures. It’s not coming anywhere near here, anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. But maybe if I come into a vast sum of money, I’ll go to Dallas to see him. I really want to see him live. I’ve been a (formerly obsessive) fan for over ten years, but I’ve never seen him live. Hmmph.

Yum.

Mmmm. Dinner last night was gooooood. Very good. Let’s see. There were four of us there, all from work – Erin, Shelley, me, and a Business Development Manager (fancy word for sales rep, basically) named David who bought us the dinner. Jacque-Imos is a fantastically magically delicious restaurant. Louisiana cooking, but yummier. It’s somewhat casual, and there is always at least a 2 hour wait for a table (unless you have a party of five or more and get reservations in advance like we did, even though one of our party didn’t show – oops!) at the very crowded bar.

When we drove up to the restaurant last night, a lot of the on-street parking was blocked off for filming of that Kate Hudson movie (Skeleton Key) that was being filmed in my neighborhood last week. They moved to another side of the city this week, and even though it was pouring rain and there was no parking nearby, there were still billions of people waiting for tables.

Fortunately, we sat right down and were entertained by Ivan, a seven year old from the next table who has clearly eaten at Jacque-Imos many more times than I have. He kept us entertained (and then annoyed) as he peered over our shoulders and chattered on about the “cream brulee and chocolate brownie with drizzle of caramel…really very delicious…” The kid has a future in food service, I tell ya.

So anyway, enough of that, the meal…

We started with four appetizers to share – the scrumdiddlyumptious alligator sausage and shrimp cheesecake, the fried green tomatoes topped with jumbo shrimp, the fried oysters, and the stuffed shrimp. mmmmwah! delicious, especially my favorite, the cheesecake. (oh god. the cheesecake.)

Then we had their delectable butter-soaked corn muffins. And then the spinach salad with an asian dressing, topped with two fried oysters. And then, my favorite entree (I really should branch out, but every time I order something different, I wish I had ordered this, even though, don’t get me wrong, everything there is outstanding), the roasted acorn squash filled with mixed seafood in a curry cream sauce. That would be oysters, mussels, fish, and shrimp. Ohhhh. Sooo good. With sides of corn maquechoux (whatever that is. Stewed corn, maybe? It’s fine.) and mashed potatoes. And then dessert, which David and Shelley weren’t going to order, but Erin and I insisted…white chocolate bread pudding in a raspberry sauce, and creme brulee (thanks Ivan for the recommendation.)

Yum, yum, yum. Points? Oh, a billion. Tomorrow is the start of my new Weight Watchers week, thank god.

Oh, and then the most exciting part. We went back out to the bar area to wait for our fifth dinner companion, who was running very late. And who was having a drink and a smoke in the bar but the very lovely Kate Hudson? Yay! Finally! A celebrity sighting! Only a few feet away! Very exciting. And her husband, the Black Crowe guy was there, but I didn’t see him. And their baby, but I didn’t see him either. Exciting! Exciting! Exciting! I’m such a dork!

This morning was less exciting. Was almost to work when George called. The alarm at the house had gone off and I had to turn around and fix it. Blech. My fault for not properly locking the door. Oops.

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Oh – must remember to watch Craig Kilborn next week. Or to tape it. I’ve never watched it, but Morrissey will be on all next week! (I was a huge, massive, insane, crazed, obsessed Morrissey/The Smiths fan in college. And a few years after that. Now I’m just a mild fan. Well, the man hasn’t put out a new album in seven years! (Bad obsessed fan!) Anyway, am excited about his new album coming out tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t suck.