Wednesday

So far, so good

I've been trying to run more lately. I walked semi-consistently during the winter on the treadmill, but outside I can actually run without being bored out of my skull. I love running through residential areas and just looking at the houses and landscaping. It gives my mind something to think about so I don't concentrate on how out of shape I am, or how my jiggly areas are moving around with every step.

The past couple of weeks I've been running with my sister twice a week, but since she's going to LaJolla tomorrow, we didn't run this week. I had to run on my own, but the good news is that it's actually getting easier to run. I feel good after I run, and I'm starting to feel more confident while I'm running.

Sunday

We have friends

This lovely robin decided to make her home right outside my kitchen window. Yesterday two little blue eggs arrived. From what I can tell, she's guarding them very closely and does not mind being photographed.



Our house was on the market for almost a year when we bought it (almost exactly one year ago) so I think all the birds made this location their favorite, as well as the bumblebees and wasps. We are seeing all flying species non-stop. The birds don't bother me as much, but I've been killing every stinging thing I can.

Tuesday

Real life biggest loser

I organized a biggest loser competition at work for my department after writing a story about another department who did it from Jan-April. Inspired by some lovely nurses who managed to lose about 7 percent of their body weight - I thought my office could do the same thing! I know I can stand to lose 7 percent. So I collected 10 bucks from everyone and the winner gets the pot.

We are only doing one at the beginning, and the final in 12 weeks. We are lucky enough to have the corporate gym in our building so we all went down there to weigh in officially and have our measurements done by the personal trainer. I opted to have my body fat test done as well, which was most definitely UNpleasant!! So yesterday morning was the initial weigh in. I drank as much coffee, then water as I could possibly manage and I ate my packet of oatmeal. Some people waited until after lunch to weigh in!! I thought I was being good by weighing in at 930. Today, I went to weigh myself on the same scale, without eating anything or drinking my coffee (had to do it that way for the fat test) and I had already lost almost six pounds!!!

Now, I don't think I did anything wrong. If I were on the real biggest loser, some people might compare me to Melissa, but if you want your weight to be more initially, why not help yourself out!?!? A few of my coworkers are pissed, but some others said I was smart. We'll just have to see how it all pans out. Either way, I'm looking forward to challenging my coworkers to get healthy. We do work in health care after all.

My .02

I'm in no way "into" politics, but even I can pick up on the fact that Illinois is going down the toilet and has been for a while now. I love my house, I love my neighborhood. I love the "town" I live in. I love that I'm halfway between my parents and the hubs, but the state as a whole just completely sucks politically. How are we ever going to fix it?

/rant