Inaugural Friday Fess-Up!

I had a brainflash last night! (Oh yeah, it was thrilling. You know, in the "I'm lying in bed trying to go to sleep, so why won't you please shut up, brain"-kinda way.) Basically what it comes down to is, even though I'm a Weight Watchers leader, I'm utterly still human. I still make mistakes, I still struggle with making the right choice, and I still can be a lazy slug sometimes. I want to share those mistakes with you in the hope that 1) I'll do right by you throughout the week and 2) you'll draw some inspiration in the knowing that you're not alone-slash-you'll be able to look at my slip-ups and think "pfft, even *I* can do better than that!"

I've been trying to find something that would motivate me to post more regularly, and I think this is going to be fun, redeeming, and cathartic. And maybe hold me somewhat accountable? After all, if I'm sharing my lows with the Internet-connected world, perhaps I'll do better at avoiding some of them in the first place!

Basically, "if hunger is not the problem, food is not the solution."

I weigh in every Friday morning, so Fridays are going to be my recap of the previous week. I'll share any particular highs and any particular lows; how my weigh-in went; how many Activity PointsPlus Values I earned over the week; and my mileage for the week.

Anyway, without further ado, here is your first "Friday Fess-Up," where I confess to the sins and ...not-sins (? obviously I am not well-versed in the correct terminology for being a GOOD person for once. Virtues?) of the previous week.

I'm gonna be completely honest: this last week was really tough for me. I was at my parents' house in Oklahoma all weekend, and there are always all kinds of temptations there. I'm not criticizing you, Mom! I'm just saying that when there's chocolate and Oreos and Goldfish in the cupboard, I will probably end up eating all of the above, plus any salted nuts I can find (and lots of beer). We also belatedly celebrated my birthday. Then as soon as I got back to Lincoln and my normal routine, a certain terrible week (let's just call it "ladytimes") commenced.

I was home for a girlfriend's wedding.
Congratulations, Sarah & Kyle!

Proudest moment: not giving in to absurdly strong cravings for chips/cookies/pizza/ice cream/anything and everything else on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. Instead I had some WW Cheddar Twists, bananas dipped in PB2 (powdered peanut butter), nectarines, WW ice cream cones (2 PPV!), sugar-free canned mandarin oranges, and some Life cereal.

I couldn't wait to eat my nectarines -- first of the season! --
so I nommed down while still in the Walmart parking lot.

Activity PPVs: 31. That's fewer than the last couple weeks, but still puts me at 113% of my weekly goal. I didn't run at all when I was home over the weekend (bad Tory!) but I was pretty good once we got back to Lincoln.

Mileage: 10.42 miles run so far this week. Technically, my running weeks go from Sunday through Saturday, so if I do anything today or tomorrow, that'll get added in.

Weigh-in: Despite being home over the weekend and then dealing with that time (sidenote: did you know that in Germany, they call it "Erdbeerwoche"? This translates to "Strawberry Week." I think this is really cute yet totally disgusting)...I only gained 0.6 pounds!

All in all, this week could have been a lot worse, and HAS been a lot worse in the past! I'm pretty pleased with myself.

If you want to try your hand at a Friday Fess-Up, then link me up, dude and/or lady!

Morning rant!

Pop quiz! When do you hate people the most?
A) First thing in the morning
B) At the end of the day
C) All the damn time

If you answered any of the above, then I'm pleased, because I'm obviously reaching my target audience. Greetings, fellow misanthropes! If you answered B in particular, you're still welcome here, but this post won't really pertain as much to you, because it's about the dreaded....MORNING RADIO SHOWS! :dun dun dunnnnn:

Okay but really. First thing in the morning, I'm already pissed at the world for EXISTING, let alone for anything more specific than "ugh world ugh." I've managed to drag myself out of bed, mayyyybe get some coffee in me (if it's a good day), get dressed, and get out the door with a banana or string cheese in tow. For clarification's sake, this is usually as I'm on my way to the gym or to meet up for a run, not necessarily as I'm heading off to work. If I'm going to work, I definitely have a real breakfast in me.

So I drag myself to the car in the pre-dawn pitch, probably running late already, and it's usually cold, and there's usually dew on the grass so my sneakers get wet, and I get in the cold car, and I turn on the radio, and...."BLAHDITTY BLAH BLAH! STUPID CRAP! HAHAHAHA! RIDICULOUS SOUND EFFECTS! CELEBRITY DRIVEL! NO MUSIC WHATSOEVER FOR THE NEXT FOUR HOURS!"

WHY?!

All I want is something with a nice beat to wake me up: some trashy Ke$ha or Nicki Minaj that I can "rap" along with (I put "rap" in quotation marks because yes, I am a white girl, I know my limits) to get me pumped  up for my workout. I do NOT want people talking, because I can hardly stand commercials at this hour (no, I don't care about getting my drains cleaned! I really don't! And if you're the goddamned Geico Gecko or Pig or whatever ludicrous mascot they have now, then the chances are good that, were I ever to meet you in person, I would STRANGLE YOU), let alone hours and hours of "ZOMG DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED ON SURVIVOR LAST NIGHT LOLZ?!" The tripe I heard this morning before changing the station? Apparently someone in Barbara Walters' family got a DUI. Not Barbara Walters herself, although even HER relevance these days is questionable. Just someone in her family. And I refuse to Google it, because that would give web traffic to Perez Hilton or TMZ or whoever and I have STANDARDS, dammit.

In conclusion: Radio stations,

A very simple tutorial for: Inscribing Titles onto Books/etc

I return from (another) long hiatus to show you how to personalize...things! Photo albums, etc. I saw this idea on Pinterest quite a while ago, used to personalize a stool, and figured I could use it to jazz up a photo album I'd put together of a trip Spencer and I had taken to Germany.

Basically, you type up your desired text, print it, and tape it to your surface:

Then trace around each letter, pressing down firmly:

Peel your template off, and fill in the letters!

Et voila! (Or "wa-lah," if you're a flaming moron.)

Tips: first off, obviously choose a simple font, and make it BIG. This was a bit hard for me to outline and to fill in accurately. Secondly, PRESS HARD when outlining. Mine's obviously not perfect, and part of that is because I didn't have clear enough indentations on the book cover. Beyond that, it was the work of minutes! Good luck!

All that glitters is not gold: sometimes it's a wreath.

At a post-Valentine's Day sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics, I picked up a shiny, pink, heart-shaped, heart-tinsel-laden wreath for something like $4. Now, some people might think that those are already enough adjectives for any wreath, but I've been following the Aunt Peaches school of design: ALWAIZ MOAR GLITTER.

So, with a free afternoon this last weekend, I dug through my craft supplies and jazzed that wreath up another notch. BAM! (Don't get that reference? Here ya go.)

First up: bows. Bows are always good. I made a bow from some ribbon I had laying around and then tied it to the wreath with a piece of heart-printed ribbon. (Sidebar: does anyone have any ideas for how to use thin printed ribbons? I LOVE those ribbons, but I never really have any uses for them. Help me out here. Ribbon ribbon ribbon. Now it looks like it's spelled wrong, doesn't it? Ribbon.)

I had a pack of felt hearts, left over from an attempted Valentine's tree a few years ago ("attempted" meaning that I meant to decorate my little Christmas tree with Valentine's stuff, but then all the pre-strung lights on the tree died and I didn't want it anymore), and a roll of sparkly red and white heart tinsel, plus some ribbons and a heart charm from an old necklace. I trimmed a few of the hearts off the tinsel and with and some Krazy Glue, I made an ultra-Valentine's-y dealie to hang in the center of the wreath.

And here's the finished product. Et voila! Enough hearts for you?

It's now proudly hanging on our living room wall, despite the season, simply because I don't have a box big enough in which to store it. And you know, I'm not sure that huge pink sparkly heart-shaped wreaths AREN'T all-seasons appropriate!

Something about holidays because I'm jealous of the kids upstairs who are obviously having a great Easter and I'm sitting here with a hangover

As my title says, there are kids upstairs out on their balcony and I'm super envious of their fun-having, especially since I didn't even buy any Easter candy and I'm hungover and really don't want to put on pants (and sunglasses, can't forget sunglasses) and go to Walgreens to remedy the Easter candy situation. I guess I could probably resolve the hangover situation while I'm there as well, but UGHHHHH that would require FORESIGHT and I can't say as though that's one of my strong suits. Oh, and also, it's Easter's fault that I'm hungover in the first place, since usually I have to work on Sundays but we happen to be closed for the holiday, so to celebrate, I went out with a bunch of friends last night for pizza and drinks and drinks and drinks and ended the night with an OATMEAL COOKIE MARTINI. Omg seriously wtf bbq, but it was really dang good.

And raisins for a garnish. Totes 'dorbz.

So, let me talk to you about holidays. Basically, I'm a stickler for tradition. I don't know how that started, but if something's been a certain way for one major event (say, a holiday), I insist it stay the same in all subsequent happenings. My mom says that it started with Christmas on the first year that I had developed a memory that would last for longer than 10 seconds, not unlike a goldfish. For whatever reason, that first Christmas I could remember, we had eaten shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and then spaghetti for our main course on Christmas Eve. My mom claims it was a fluke: we just happened to have that stuff around and we just happened to eat it for dinner on Christmas Eve. 

The next year rolls around, and Mom asks me what we should do for dinner. "MOM. We ALWAYS have shrimp cocktail and spaghetti on Christmas Eve."

"That was actually just last year, honey."
"NO, Mother. I REMEMBER. We ALWAYS have shrimp cocktail and spaghetti on Christmas Eve."

(I'm also very stubborn.)

Well, whatever the tradition (or lack thereof) previously had been, it was replaced. Every Christmas Eve since then, we've had shrimp cocktail and spaghetti on Christmas Eve. Tory wins again!

Roping Other People into Your Resolutions

I have long believed in the power of peer pressure, or peer shame, or whatever you want to call it. I want to focus on this because it's that New Year's resolution-y time of year, and I figure I might help someone (anyone) with their goals for 2013.

Exhibit A: I spent a year post-high school graduation in Germany as an exchange student. I told EVERYONE. Once the decision was made but before I stepped on the plane, I had about six months to spread the word as far and as wide as possible, and I did exactly that.

"Wow, Germany? For a whole year? Rad, dude."

Yes, I was excited, but I was also terrified. I wasn't telling everyone simply because I wanted to brag, or to have something to talk about (believe you me, I can always find something to talk about!)--I was telling them because it meant I couldn't chicken out halfway through and come crawling back home. I told everyone I knew, and even some people I didn't, just so I wouldn't be able to give up before my year was up. I knew I couldn't bear having to answer the question, "But I thought you were going to be gone for a year?"

It worked! I was in Germany for eleven and a half months. Phew. It was a long haul and a lot of hard work, but I know it paid off in the end. Case in point: I still dream in German once in a while (last night, for instance). Plus, I met my boyfriend in a German class once I finally got to college, and we've been together for going on two years now.

He drinks to forget.

When it comes to Weight Watchers, we recommend doing the same thing with your weight-loss journey. You might not necessarily need to tell everyone you know, but keeping your friends and family in the loop with you will usually pay off in the end. If they know you're trying to eat more healthfully, they're less likely to push for that extra dessert or margarita. The downside is, sometimes people think this means that they need to look out for you, which to them means incessantly asking, "Can you eat that? Should you be eating that? You shouldn't have that; you're on a diet."

There ARE some diets that function like that, but the great thing about Weight Watchers (shameless promotion) is that you can have anything you want! You can still have margaritas and that extra dessert and some chips with your sandwich. Have your cake and eat it too--as long as you track it. As long as you budget for it. We're really big on planning ahead for special occasions, and giving you some leeway to enjoy yourself. Anyone can eat chicken and broccoli for a month and lose 20 pounds, but what happens the instant you stop eating just chicken and broccoli?

Donuts start talking to you, that's what.
Eat them to silence their tiny helpless voices.

Anyway, all of this brings me to my point about New Year's resolutions. This year, I resolved to run 12 miles each week. It took me a while to come to this number; at first, I was thinking 15 mi/week, but soon decided that would just be frustrating and time-consuming to me, so I set a more achievable goal. Once I'd decided upon 12 miles, I announced it to Facebook. And I've continued to announce it to Facebook, and to my friends, and to all my members in my WW meetings. And yes, I've had people ask me, "How many miles have you gone this week?" It keeps me accountable to someone besides myself, and if I ever slack off, it'll be just like if I'd come home from Germany at the half-way point. Embarrassing, cowardly...even somewhat shameful. Best not to let that happen. This last week, I was lazy, which left me with nine miles I had to run on Friday and Saturday. I did it, though! All because I knew someone OTHER than me was going to be wondering how I'd done.

If you're not comfortable with telling the whole world, just pick one person, or a couple. You don't have to announce it on Facebook; you can just as easily message a few friends (or text, or whatever)--just so someone else holds you accountable. It's easy to make excuses to yourself. It's a lot harder to make them to other people.

One last tip: find someone to help you with your resolution. Currently, I meet my friend Jesse at 6 a.m. every Monday and Thursday. Those days, I'm guaranteed to get a run in, because omg, my friend is WAITING for me, I can't be that total flake who doesn't show up even though someone is WAITING out in the COLD and the DARK for ME! (It was 5 degrees when I got up at 5 this morning, "feels like -2.")

"I can't believe you abandoned me. Oh, wait, I actually froze
to death waiting for you. This is just a really terrible Monday."

In conclusion, this quote always keeps me motivated: "Someone busier than you is running right now." (Not sure of the original source. If you know, tell me and I'll attribute it.)

It [still looks] a lot like Christmas!

I had a Christmas decor post all ready. Unfortunately, I lost track of time. Fortunately, I was inspired by Aunt Peaches to go ahead and post my decorations anyway, for those of us who want to hold onto Christmas year-round. So here you go!

You've all seen my snowflake ballerinas, but here they are again, for reference. (Along with our cute little tree.)

One of the very first things I put up for Christmas actually came about as the result of working on a different craft. My freshman year of college, a group of friends and I drove down to New Orleans to experience Mardi Gras. The parts of it that I remember were awesomeeeee! (Granted, that's not TOO much, but.)


My main souvenir from that intoxicating (ah heh heh. See what I did there?) weekend was a milk crate (which I found on the street after a parade), entirely filled with beads. FILLED with beads. I've had vague designs for those beads ever since, but never got around to doing much with them...until I started the tedious process of hot-gluing them to a stool to use as a very glitzy nightstand.

I'll do a post on that later, but for now, suffice to say that I realized during this project that I seemed to have a LOT of beads in several colors: namely, red, green, and gold. What ever could I use red, green, and gold beads for, in DECEMBER? Oh, wait.

It's not a LOT, but it's something!

Very super easy. I just looped each string of beads together, then clambered all over various surfaces with a mouthful of little picture nails and my adorable pink hammer. I may never take them down. Bonus: I had EXACTLY enough strands to make it all the way around the living room.

"Our house wine is Jägermeister"

Now, I adore Playmobil. They have absolutely the cutest, most fun toys in existence, and I'd think my friends would agree with me, based on the use that my Playmobil Nativity got this winter.

Why yes, Joseph is putting lambs in the soup kettle over  the fire.

And yes, this goat is being used as a lantern-stand.

And apparently all the animals want to see Baby
Jeebus, and the kitten is about to suck his breath out.

(None of us are particularly religious, sooooo. If you're offended...take some time to realize that these are plastic toys.)

 I also have a bunch of little Christmas tchotchkes I've gotten over the years from Kinder Überraschungseier (or Ü-Eier for short, or just Kinder Eggs), which, in case you don't know, are hollow chocolate eggs with a little toy inside. Sometimes you have to put the toys together yourself; sometimes, as in this case, they come pre-assembled. That's also a Lego Santa sitting on my thermostat.

Next up is a project I worked on with my mom that became Christmas presents for all my girlfriends. We'd seen a picture on Better Homes & Gardens of some flowers underneath upside-down wine glasses, used as a centerpiece, and when we found cool hobnail glasses at the Salvation Army, an idea was born.

For my friends, we created little Christmassy vignettes, using mini ornaments, poinsettias, Christmas buttons in the shapes of gingerbread men and snowmen, and various other fun little things (I'll put up pictures, along with a tutorial, some other time), but I just used some shredded leftover wrapping paper and ribbon, plus added some more Kinder Egg toys to sit on the top of the overturned glasses.

I also decorated our guest bath, because I'm classy like that. More Playmobil, please!

A little angel in a pony-propelled sleigh, a daddy pulling his daughter on a sled, and Santa. Hecks yes. And I thrifted the Santa tin several years ago and have just been waiting for the moment where it'd finally come into its own.

And these are Santa socks, into which I stapled ribbon so I could hang them on the towel bar. Because OMG do you SEE how cute they are?!!?

And my easiest, most wonderful, most transcendent Christmas/anytime decoration ever was a hand-me-down from Spencer's mom. It WAS a tree topper, but since one of my trees has a pre-wired topper and the other has an awesome vintage thrifted topper, I found a different use for it:

HAHHAHAHAHAHA oh my gosh, I seriously can't get over how much I love this guy. It's just silly and fun and wild and wonderful, and it will DEFINITELY be living in that lamp year-round.

So those are all the little accents, besides some more Playmobil (Santa's sleigh, and a light-up tree, and a bunch of presents). Yes, I have two trees, but one of them's just your basic fabulous mini fiber-optic rainbow tree (which sometimes works) and the other is a borrowed little four-foot tree sitting on a stool, which you saw in the very first picture in those post, and they're nothing special. There will be even more Christmas posts from me, though, so keep your eyes peeled if you miss the holiday season already!