I had a busy day on Wednesday, and I totally forgot to get online!
The day started with sleeping in till noon— JUST KIDDING!
I went on an adventure yesterday- an adventure called the Secretary of State, the IL DMV and The City Clerk’s Office- ans surprisingly? I didn’t want to rip our my hair afterward.
Because my Honda Fit is my first car in the city (other than the POS I brought with me from Iowa 8 years ago that I kept here for 3 months then sold) and I had NO idea what I needed to do to make sure it was legally registered for the state. Thank goodness, the Secretary of State’s office believes in the interweb so I had printouts of brochures of everything I needed. The only problem was, when I moved, I forgot to grab all my car purchase info, and I have no idea which box all that crap is in. So I had to talk to the back I got the loan from, and get a copy of the title (and, though it said differently on the brochure, a copy of my loan application that had to be faxed from the bank at 9AM to the office).
Anyway, I took Mr Bus (that is what my mom calls the bus) over to the office, as parking is sooooo pricey in the Loop. I got to the office about 45 minutes after it opened, expecting to stand in a loooong line. I even brought a magazine (or 4).
NO LINE! I was first! Seriously- I almost teared up.
though I had to fill out forms, wait for my bank to fax over info, fill out tax forms and pay a cashier, I was out of there in less than 30 minutes. Everyone was polite, jovial even and wished me a happy early birthday.
Seriously! Nice! JOVIAL EVEN!
On to the DMV. When I got my license in GA, the (mistakenly??) gave me back my IL license, which did not expire until Nov of 2011. I thought I would be OK using the “old” one until it expired– yeah, I was wrong. I am glad I checked. Getting a license in another state negates the other state’s. Good to know.
What was not good to know was that I had to take the test (slightly unprepared) and get a whole new photo. It was raining, I looked like a drowned rat, and I had not a stick of makeup on. Of course.
But I got right in (as he printed my “take a number”, they were already calling my number), got new paperwork, got flirted with by 3 different DMV employees, paid for my new license, took the test, got my picture taken, and got my license all in under 25 minutes. REALLY.
Again, nice, jovial, joking, flirty, and quick.
All this is so foreign to me- when I got my last license in IL in 2002, it took me 2 hours. And they were CRABBY.
Last but not least, I got my new city sticker in the office in City Hall. I have never been in the building before and it is very pretty. What I really loved was there was a walkway from the Thompson Center to City Hall so I didn’t get all wet.
Again, in and out in 10 minutes. Nice, easy, helpful, great.
I was in and out in one hour and 15 minutes. That HAS to be some sort of record!
I went for a walk to the Walgreen’s waaaaay far away (called the wrong one) to pick up a Rx, and since it has stopped raining, I really enjoyed myself. Chicago is such a pretty city.
I came home and took a short nap, then went for my annual “two days before my b-day” haircut.
I love my friend/hairstylist Trisha. She really knows how to cut super curly hair, AND I love that she blow dries my hair straight LOVE IT! So I have straight hair and it is rainy out- of course.
I also went to the Shedd Aquarium with my godchildren last night for a behind-the-scenes look at how they keep the place up and running. Some cool things I learned (while wrangling two 6 year olds and a 4 year old):
They use alot of the same medical equipment we do to take care of the animals. They showed us how they get foreign objects out of turtles (with a flexible laryngiscope) and showed us some of the animals who were in ICU.
We got to have a birds eye view of the BIIIIG aquarium where the sharks are held, and learned what they eat (small shellfish) and how they transport the animals for care. They also use signs for each of the largest sharks (using a Pavlov’s Dog response) to individually feed them.
We learned that the Shedd makes their own sea water! Contrary to popular belief, The DO NOT use Lake Michigan water. Not only is is NOT salty, it does not have the right Ph balances. The Shedd used to SHIP THE WATER IN from the actual sea on TRAINS!! (how expensive must that have been?!?) but now they have these boxes called “sea in a box” that they use to make the water. This was my favorite fact of the night.
The night was tailored to kids, though I think 6 and 4 might have been a bit young for the big words being thrown at them (even almost 32 was also getting a bit confused with the big words sometimes!) The Shedd had areas to color and the like, and my goddaughter/niece M made this (also, I filmed what her brothers made) :
They are so cute. She was drawing pictures of “me” all night.
One thing I love to do with M is count stairs when we are going up/down them. She LOVES doing this and is soooo excited when we ge to them. Man, i think i counted 500 steps last night. It was good exercise!
I ended up walking over 11300 steps yesterday, and most of it was in the Shedd! WHOO HOO! I had 43 minutes total of aerobic movement.
Today, I am relaxing most of the day then tonight, I am headed to opening night of Banana Shpeel, the new Cirque Du Soleil show in Chicago. My friend won tickets and is taking me as a birthday present!! I am SOOO excited to see this show – it will be my first Cirque show!
It’s a bullets kind of night, peeps…. in no particular order:
Welcome visitors from We Are the Real Deal, Miz Fit and the other blogs that linked to me today in their “Exposed” posts! Since junior high I have had an issue with my body– I am so glad REAL women are talking about what REAL bodies look like. We DON’T all look the same, and we should be proud of what we have.
Missed breakfast again today. While I slept really well last night, again, thank goodness, I woke up late for my orthodontist appt and forgot to grab something to eat. By the time I left that office (in the burbs and later than I thought), I was late for another appt at the outplacement service that is helping me find a job. By the time I was done there, I was starving and it was 2:15pm! I grabbed a Potbelly’s skinny turkey sandwich, and a bag of baked lays. It was good and I ate it ALL! I realized a few minutes ago I never ate dinner. What is with me forgetting to eat lately???
I walked 6,000 steps today, but never got a “formal” workout in. I am happy to say not only do my pants feel a tiny bit looser, I had to buy new “interview” pants today and they we the same size I normally buy (good news that I didn’t go up a size like I thought I did!)
I GOT FREE CHOBANI YOGURT IN THE MAIL TODAY!! A WHOLE CASE! Now while that might not sound too exciting to some of you that get free stuff to try in the mail all the time, I am SO EXCITED about this. I won it playing Twitter spoons on their website. It is my favorite yogurt, but it is pricey, and with me not working right now, I can’t afford it. now I have 24 WHOLE CUPS to myself!! YIPPEE!
While I haven’t posted about it, I have been in COBRA and insurance hell the past few weeks. I think everything was figured out today. Thank GOODNESS.
My birthday (b-day is Friday) and Christmas gift from my mom is a new DSLR Camera! I got the check today in the mail and can’t wait to go buy it. Beware, my blog is gonna be picture-fied for the next few months… lol…
I keep forgetting to tell you all about my new inspiration buddy, Fatinah!! She is an amazing person and I am so glad to have her as my motivational buddy. Please check out her blog and say hi!
I paid off 2 of my credit cards today and it feels SOOOO GOOOOOD. Welcome to adulthood, miss almost 32 year old!
The cats decided to poo outside the box tonight. Mr More has no idea what to think about living with 3 other cats. He is calmer than I thought he would be, though he is still being a pissy old man and is totally set in his ways.
There is alot of bloggy drama out there right now. I am so happy to not be part of it. SOOO many other things to be worried about right now that whether someone likes what I write (or not)…
aaaaand, fin. I have got to get to bed. I am tired, and tomorrow will be spent at the DMV trying to get new tags for my car. Joy. Expect alot of “I’mmmmm BOOOOOORED” tweets in the AM.
I realized I hadn’t had a chance to visit my grandparents since I returned to the Midwest, so Sunday morning I hit the road and drove to visit them. My grandpa has been very ill with COPD and CHF, along with uncontrolled diabetes for a long time, all the time with my tiny grandma playing 24 hour nurse. It really took alot out of her, but she didn’t feel he needed to go to a home just yet. After falling a few times over a few months, my grandparents made the difficult decision to put him in a nursing home this summer. I think my grandma, who has been taking care of him full time for over 6 years, is feeling part-free and part-lonely. They have been married for 59 years, and it is hard for me to imagine her living alone after all those years. He actually LOVES the place because he gets to do all the things he loves to do: eat, watch tv and sleep in his chair. It was so great to see them both.
When I go to visit them, my grandma always buys TACO PIZZA for lunch. I frickin love that pizza and I can only get it at Happy Joes, and only at home. While it is probably 100000000 calories per slice, I only get it with other people and just a small so I can share it. I am proud to say I did not get my favorite lard-ridden tacos and 100% fat cheese fries that I normally get at another place (I have 3 places I usually hit when I go home- Happy Joes, Rudy’s Tacos – fatty tacos- and Hungry Hobo -like subway-)– it kinda made me sick to think about it, actually.
Before I left for my grandparents, I TOOK 11,500 STEPS IN ONE DAY and I was so proud of myself– then proceeded to sit on my @ss for 2 days and eat. But you know what? I enjoyed my grandparents, ate, but not what I normally would, and feel really good about myself.
That is what this is all about, isn’t it? Moderation; having fun; enjoying others; loving myself.
Tomorrow is a new day and I am excited to get up and work out at 6:30 am! Gotta get to bed!
PS: I also love my grandparents house because I slept for the first time in 3 weeks for 7 straight hours. I miss sleep!
I need to get some sleep but wanted to keep up my “run” of posting every day. I went to brunch with 2 good friends and ate healthy (1/2 a 3 egg omelet with mushrooms, ham and broccoli) whole wheat toast, water, a small hot chocolate and fresh fruit) and had healthy conversations.
Lunch and dinner were combined into a quick Mickey D’s free for all of a cheeseburger small fry and a small diet coke before I went to the Chicago Craft Social where I met tons of cool crafty ladies and made a few cool craft items myself.
(pictures to follow, I am getting a new DSLR for my 32nd birthday (it’s in 7 days!!) so I am STOKED I will finally get to share more awesome pictures with you!)
I am not bummed that I got McDonald’s for dinner-I am actually happy that I stuck to the kid’s meal and not a huge crappy meal I didn’t want. I got a taste and now I won’t crave it for a while. Though, I wish I would have palnned my day better and had dinner ready before I had to leave for the craft social. Well, you live and you learn, right?
OK- really, I am off to bed. I am not sleeping well (still) and I need to kick the cats out of my bedroom, put the earplugs in and drift off into dream land. Also, I have a walking date tomorrow with a good friend and I want to make sure I am up in time to go!
Day three of three without breakfast- I just can’t seem to get to sleep and/or get up in the morning. I had a wicked bout of insomnia AGAIN last night- I finally got to sleep at 6am this morning. Not too helpful when I am supposed to go to a job fair to look for a job at 9am. I was SO exhausted when I woke up.
Also, I spent about a hour last night before trying to sleep to find something respectable to wear for the mass interviews.
Nothing.
Fits.
(yet)
After running to target for black socks ( I have no idea where in the mess of my room/storage unit where all my black socks went) I came home and decided to WORKOUT (look at me). I spent about 30-35 min on the treadmill and while tired, actually ran/jogged for a few minutes!
4 to be exact!;-)
Now, you may remember that I wrote about having EIA here -Exercise-Induced Asthma. Jogging, high impact aerobics, bootcamp and even swimming (the chemicals kill my lungs) cause me to wheeze, cough and have breathing issues for around 2-3 hours after exercising. It is uncomfortable, but I work around it. I have been to the doctor and was given an inhaler. It works, but I have to use it a few times during workouts.
Guess what I misplaced during the move?
While I know I shouldn’t jog w/o the inhaler, I am at the place in my workouts where I want to ramp it up a notch. I called in a new Rx so hope to have it soon. I am really ready to move more.
I start my fitness bootcamp on November 30th, right as I will be doing an assessment on how I did during the month of November on my own.
Here is what I ate today-
Breakfast: Nothing. Again.
Lunch: 2 lot fat hot dogs, mustard, green beans, cracked pepper, water.
Snack – Fruit 2day and cottage cheese.
Dinner: Not so healthy. 2 fried chicken strips, 5 french fries, ketchup, diet soda.
I am going grocery shopping tomorrow because I need to add some variety and fresh fruits and veggies to my diet.
Ok- off to put in earplugs and take a sleeping pill– I WILL SLEEP TONIGHT!
PS: my pedometer hit 8836 today–4147 being aerobic steps! Getting closer to 10,000!
I went with a friend to see a sneak preview of the new movie “Pirate Radio” tonight- if you love to laugh, hear great rock music from the late 60′s and enjoy a good story line, go see it!
For meals, here they are:
No breakfast (again) woke up at 11! I really needed the sleep I guess.
Lunch:cottage cheese, Fruit 2Day, water, pretzel crisps, LC cheese (wasn’t very hungry)
Dinner: Ate at a local stir fry place, lots of veggies, chicken breast, brown rice, ice tea.
I am BEAT and I have to got to a job fair tomorrow morning at 9am- I need to be upbeat, happy, nice and, most importantly, AWAKE!
I had errands, meeting, a fun live blog about biggest Loser and a lunch out today. I got NO sleep again last night, and I am beat. I had no formal workout but I walked 7,000 steps today with 3000 of the in “aerobic walk” mode.
So tonight, I write out my food blog and thats it- I am headed to bed!
I went to bed with a sore ear and throat, and woke up feeling the same. While I wanted to make sure I got my errands done in the AM, I spend the afternoon cat napping in bed.
I wish I felt better- the weather in Chicago as been amazingly warm- I would like to be out in it.
Since I spent most of the day sleeping, I ate pretty light.
Breakfast-
Cottage cheese
Fruit 2Day
Water
Lunch-
water
tuna
10 high fiber crackers
Dinner
(note here: I am feeling LOUSY. I feel like making NOTHING, so I got in the car and was headed to [enter fast food place here] and while driving through the parking garage at my house, had an internal conversation about who I am and who I am trying to become. Who I am trying to become won out AND I ENDED UP AT THE GROCERY STORE INSTEAD. GO ME!)
Frozen Lazagna
water
green beans
–
In other news, I got and email from my motivational partner today! She seems like a cool chick and I am so excited to get to know her!
So today, while not planned, was an “off” day for workouts. I really had the best intentions but I ran 30 minutes later than I wanted to all day.
I have been fighting a sore throat since I arrived home in Chicago last Saturday and I think it is starting to win. I took a dose of TheraFlu (tailored for body ache and sore throat) so cross your fingers I am feeling better in the AM so I can GET MY @ss to the gym at 6:30!!!!!
Because I am feeling so crappy and the clock just turned 12:47am (HOLY CRAP IT IS LATE!!) I will type out my food list for the day and be done.
Breakfast
12 high fiber crackers
8oz OJ (Vitamin C)
cottage cheese
water
blueberries
Lunch (Chinese take out in the burbs)
steamed white meat chicken
broccoli, pea pods and mushrooms
1 12 oz can of diet coke
water
1 veggie egg roll
1 packet soy sauce
1 packet duck sauce
Dinner (wasn’t very hungry)
leftover rice and veggies from last nights YUMMO dinner
water
OJ (again for the Vittamin C)
Fruit 2Day
Snacks
broccoli and carrots
13 pretzel chips and 2 wedges of LC cheese
water water water water
BTW, I went to see a friends play tonight on the north side of Chicago. It was a hilarious mash-up of George Orwell’s book 1984 and the 1985 Super-bowl winning Chicago Bears. While that may seem strange, it was a totally awesome show. If you are in Chicagoland and want to know more about it, shoot me an email, I might be able to get you discounted tickets.
Note to self: I am super proud that you are eating breakfast every morning (again). WTG!
… I may be speaking too soon, but I just might have gotten myself over the proverbial hump of starting (what seemed to be a monumental shift in )a new way of eating today.
About 6 spoonfuls of the best rice I have ever had
1/8th of a pita
ice tea/unsweetened lemonade
water
I had a very satisfying dinner full of veggies and lean protein- i didn’t miss the heavy sauces or sweets I would usually consume at dinner. It is about 2 hours after eating and I don’t feel sluggish and the need to fall asleep in front of the TV- actually, I think I am going to go unpack a few boxes.
This morning I took a page from Jen at Prior Fat Girl and took My Sweaty Proof pic after I worked out early this AM- I shared it with her for her page and thought I would share it here:
[caption id="attachment_1033" align="aligncenter" width="461" caption="Sweaty Proof and proud of me!"][/caption]
Also- I made it over 7000 steps today!! :-0 (I know it says “1 day before” but that is because I can’t remember how to change the time lol)
Finally I was proud to say “I KNOW HER! I’ve even hung out with her!!!” when I opened cnn.com’s homepage today– Roni made the bigtime! Not only is she on the homepage for losing 70lbs, but she is the most popular story right now!! CONGRATS GIRL! (She’s even more popular that the healthcare bill passing the senate!!)
[caption id="attachment_1035" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Check out that popularity!"]Roni on cnn.com’s homepage
It was so great to see them both.
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Roni on cnn.com’s homepage
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