HYC Update – Early Darkness = Lethargy

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I love this time of year – the cooler weather, the  clothes, the crisp air, and the early nights.  Although that last one has been proving to be a bit troublesome when it  comes to fitting workouts into my schedule.

Now that it’s darker earlier, I have the tendency to want to stay home and hibernate, rather than hit the gym and workout.

Last night, for example: I stayed at school late to help a few students and didn’t arrive home until 5:45pm.  Poor Lulu was more than anxious to see me, and so she and I headed out for a quick walk to burn off some of her energy.  (Walking her is a great time for us to bond, even if it is dark when we’re doing it.  Luckily her little light I bought helps her to be seen (think bike light, but for dogs) and the busy street I live on provides lots of light from the headlights of cars passing by).  After her walk we headed inside, and rather than changing into workout clothes and hitting the gym before dinner, I changed into lounging clothes, ate dinner, and then vegged on the couch with Lulu.  No workout, not even the Wii.

Luckily for me I usually leave school much earlier and can hit the gym on the way home and still arrive at my house just as dusk is setting in outside.  I’ve been careful to schedule my personal training appointments for 4pm so that I can spend an hour at the gym and still get home while it’s fairly light out for Lulu’s walk.  And after last night’s experience, I can see that I need to do the same thing with my non-pt workouts, too.  Otherwise they just won’t happen during the week.  I get way too comfortable and a bit lethargic once I get home and start to relax.

This afternoon is going to be another late one at school and since I know that even though I *should* hit the gym, I won’t (see above), my plan is to walk Lulu and then get on the Wii and “play” for an hour, just to burn some much needed calories. This weighing everyday has it’s benefits – I’m up from last week’s weigh-in due to a number of factors (water retention, dinner party on Saturday, lack of exercise) and if I want to see a better outcome on the scale tomorrow morning, I need to do something about it today).

How do you deal with winter workouts?

 

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

HYC Update: Shopping! (plus a possible “boy situation”)

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

There’s nothing quite like feeling all snuggly in the fall and winter time, wearing your favorite pj’s and cuddling up on the couch to watch a movie, or under the  covers to read that book you’ve been dying to dive into.  One of the things I was looking forward to in this new house was that the private yard would mean I could stay in my pj’s as long as I wanted to and wouldn’t have to worry about the neighbors seeing me every time I wanted to go outside with Lulu (in the backyard, of course).  On the weekends that I don’t have plans, I live in my pj’s.  The problem has been that all of my old pj’s were, well, old.  Worn out, faded, threadbare.  And Lane Bryant stopped making warm & cuddly pj’s in favor of sexy ones.  I’m sure some people appreciate that, but I wanted comfy, cozy pj’s.  And Monday I got a catalog from Woman Within that had the cutest pj’s ever!

(Let me say that I don’t normally shop at Woman Within because I find that most of their clothes fit in the “old lady” section, but I was pleasantly surprised by the winter catalog).

Not only did they have pj’s, but they had great prices on cotton undies (aka granny panties, but who cares?), socks, workout/lounge pants, and t-shirts.  I stocked up!  I even found two cute pairs of shoes.  All for much, much less than I expected.  I’m set for weekend comfort, that’s for sure.

Here’s what I got… (click on anything to make it bigger)

I like that the pj sets come with long-sleeved t-shirts instead of heavier tops, because I tend to sleep warm.  Plus, I have plenty of sweatshirts/cardigans I can layer if I get too cold.

Each set of pj’s came with a free pair of slippers, so I got 1 red pair and 1 navy pair.

I got these in black & charcoal gray.  These are perfect for working out, but also for lazing around or going to the dog park/running errands/walks with Lulu on the weekends or after work during the week.

The sneakers I got are actually full size, not mules as this photo shows (kind of like photo with the pants, above).  I have been wanting some easy, knock-around sneakers for the dog park/easy walking.  These are great because they’re a good color and they’re wide width.

And I also got one in a violet color.  I’m always in need to workout t-shirts, and these will be perfect.  They’re a soft, combed cotton, which will be nice.  Plus, they were so cheap – $5.99 each!!

I’ve been needing some casual brown flats that are wide width, so when I saw these, and they were on sale, I knew I had to try them.  They aren’t that pretty to look at, but they’re perfect for standing on my feet all day at school.  (One of the things I’m really looking forward to “some day” is wearing sexier shoes and not feeling like I’d rather cut off my feet than wear them another second).

I also got panties and socks, but you know what those look like.  Not too thrilling, but they had such good prices, I figured, why not save a trip to the mall.

I have plenty of sweaters from last winter, so I’m really all set for now until I start going down in sizes.  Can’t wait for that!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The “boy situation”

A few of you who follow me on Twitter might remember that a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that an old crush of mine changed his relationship status to single on Facebook.  And I “liked” it.  (So, high school, I know). But it was a fairly big move for me, since I haven’t dated anyone in a long, long time.

To give you some background, this guy dated a former friend of mine (she and I haven’t spoken for over 2 years, so girl code doesn’t apply), and at the time she said that she thought J and I would be better together than she would with him.  She knew he was totally my type (stocky, strong build, olive skin, dark hair), and his larger than life personality was a perfect match for my own.  (I’ve always felt that I needed to date someone who could “match” me in that area.  I don’t want to be with someone who I feel I could “walk all over”).  And while he doesn’t have a formal education (college degree), he owns his own import/export business, as well as his own house.  He’s Portuguese, which is as close to Italian as you can get without actually being Italian.  🙂  Plus, he’s just a fun person to be around and always makes sure that everyone around him is having a good time.  I thought J was cute back then, and I got some vibes from him that he felt the same way about me, but because he was dating my friend, we both put those feelings aside.  And then when they broke up we didn’t see each other because we don’t really run in the same circles.  (The only down side to J, and this is a fairly large one, is that he has two kids by two different baby-mamas.  Not sure how much drama that entails, but it seems like there would be some, right?).

Anyway… Friday evening J wrote on my Facebook page:

J: Nice doggy
B: Thanks, she’s a sweetheart.  Hope you’re doing well
J: Doing very well
J: And u? {I hate that ‘u’ instead of ‘you,’ but I’m going to put that English teacher part of me aside}.
B: Life is good.
J: That’s good.
J: Hit me up sometime xxx-xxxx
B: I will.
{and then I chickened out and wrote today)
B: Maybe it’s easier for you to call me? xxx-xxxx (Most days after 4-5pm ’till 11, or so).

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 !!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so to most of you that’s not that big a thing, but to me, who has been dateless for over 2 years (mostly by my choice), this is fairly big.  I mean, I’m not wrong in thinking that he’s flirting here, right?  I am a bit concerned that it’s so soon after he broke up with his last girlfriend, but then again, I’m not getting married.  I’m just looking for someone to have a good time with – in terms of going on dates and hanging out;  I’m not DTF (Jersey Shore fans will know what I mean; others can look it up on Urban Dictionary, if they want to), because we’ll have to be really dating (aka girlfriend/boyfriend defined) before that happens.

I can’t help but go over in my mind that I’m a good 60 pounds heavier than the last time J saw me.  Which makes me feel unattractive, no matter how pretty he might consider my face.  Which sort of puts a downer on this whole thing, and I don’t want to go there right now.  I mean, I have very current pictures of myself (mostly face, but some full-ish body) on Facebook, and J is sure to have a decent idea of what I look like now and he was interested enough to contact me.  So I shouldn’t try to assume what his type is or whether or not he thinks I’m too fat, because he obviously doesn’t. (I love it when I give myself a little kick in the ass like that, don’t you?!)

And my biggest problem has always been getting too far ahead of myself, so for now, I’m just going to hope that he makes the phone call and we even want to go out on a date (for coffee or a drink or something easy).  Plus, there are a few red flags with this guy, although his pluses outweigh his minuses, at this point. No matter what, it’s exciting.  And something to occupy my mind besides weight loss, grading, and t.v.  LOL.

Read Full Post »