I’m currently doing Weight Watchers, and every week I blog a bit about what I’ve learned and experienced, and whether I’ve lost or gained weight for the week. I take notes in the weekly meetings and post them, too.

These are awe-some!

Last week our challenge was to try a new vegetable. I had a fennel and heirloom beet salad with blue cheese at a restaurant, which counted because I’ve never had fennel.

Overall, though?  I’m calling this another lost week.  So lost, in fact, that I declined to weigh in. There are weeks where I feel so on top of Weight Watchers and others where it’s really hard. It’s weird; this week, the week following the one that involved too much vodka and also ice cream cake, is shaping up to be a really good one. I’m trying to figure out what makes such a difference. My leader is good at acknowledging this up and down and makes a point of saying that it’s totally normal. 

Ok, lady.  If you say so.

This week the topic was snacking which made for a fun meeting as we all chatted about our favorite Point-friendly snacks. It turns out that nearly everyone in the meeting started off the day with some sort of food in their bag (I showed up with some brown rice sushi… complete with chopsticks!). Do you keep snacks in your bag, too?

The times I leave the house without one, I wind up grabbing something awful just to stave off the hunger. Not wallet- OR point-friendly.

I have the full list of snacks we shared below the jump, but I have to gush about this one: freeze dried blueberries. The lady in front of mentioned them, so Emily, Jeannette and I headed to the new Trader Joe’s to get some.

You can eat them straight; they have an airy texture like popcorn. I ate them with cereal this morning, and it was SO GOOD. Plus, bonus! the milk, and my tongue, turned a deep blueish purple.

They taste better than they look.

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Oh, it’s one of those periods where I can’t get the blogging mojo up off the ground. Here are some bits.

**

I got a new camera. It was time for an upgrade to something professional, so I got the industry standard for commercial photographers, as well as a few good lenses. It was hours of research to figure out exactly the set up I wanted, and the results have me blissed out and really excited. With the right gear in my bag, the only thing standing between me and making a decent living as a photographer is myself. Knowing this is a tremendous relief, and also a great big burden: now the only thing standing between me and making a decent living as a photographer is myself!

Ah well. Bring it on.

**

I wonder often if have something wrong with me, like Aspergers. My brother-in-law made ridiculous statement the other day, and I was all wide-eyed going “REALLY?!” while everyone else laughed at his joke. When I was about 14 I kept a list called, “Words and Phrases people use when they are being sarcastic”, and I really needed it. I don’t now, but only because I have it memorized. It’s just not something I instinctively pick up on. I also don’t do “nice for nice sake”. I say things that are honest, and then realize that they aren’t spectacularly kind, and I always want to be thought of as spectacularly kind.

**
Poor Matty’s ear infection is better. It was 10 days of squirting in a wash that made him dizzy, and then some medicine, and then at night more medicine and a pill. Now it’s just pills, which is easy since he likes anything if you glob peanut butter on it.

Clearing it up by keeping on top of his treatment was very satisfying, and I am proud.

**

I skipped blogging about Weight Watchers last week, because I was tired of thinking about it. It is exhausting to think of every single thing you put in your mouth as a matter of course. My leader said something so wonderful last week, that deserves writing down: 98% of plateaus and gains are a result of loosened efforts and are, therefore, controllable. Usually that control looks like stepping up the workouts or cutting back further on calorie intake as your body adjusts to your previous efforts. That sucks! It’s like, work hard, then work harder. But it’s the way it is.

**

Bronwen is an internet-turned-real-life friend from Australia and HER friend was visiting New York. She asked if we would meet her for dinner, so Naomi came out to Brooklyn and we ate. Then we drank, and then we had drinks in our living room until 2 am. I explained how Fahrenheit degrees work, and we both agreed it was stupid and confusing and that Celsius is superior.

We all liked each other, and Naomi promises that I can crash on her couch if I ever want to trek over to the other side of the world.

This is why I love the internet.

This morning I had this heavy metal song stuck in my head:

“Poundin’ down the walls!
Pound-in’ down-the
Poundin’ down the walls
WITH THE SLIME KINGS!”

The true beauty of it is in the singing, and if you ever get a drink or two in me, I promise to sing it for you, and with gusto.

I did not know from whence this song came, and it bothered me for a few hours until I Googled it. The Slime Kings are a fake rock band made up by Ann M. Martin, writer of the Babysitters Club books. In the book, “Claudia and the Phantom Phone Call”, the babysitters rig their stereo up to start playing loudly if an intruder broke into the house. They set the tape (awww, mid-80′s technology!) to the song “Pounding Down the Walls” by The Slime Kings.

The lyrics were never spelled out in the book, but that didn’t stop 9 year old me from trying to come up with my own version of the song. Now, years later, it was stuck in my head, a monstrosity of my own creation.

I wonder if Rob will lend his talents to recording it?

Are you going to BlogHer? I am!

I haven’t thought a ton about it until yesterday, though, when Pam posted something on her blog talking about how there was some “What are you wearing?” chatter on Twitter. My first thought was, “OH MY GOSH! What AM I going to wear?!” All my summer clothes are in the slightly grungy and mis-matched camp, and a LOT of my prettier dresses are too big (yay!) and need be replaced (boo!)

Pam wasn’t having a fun What-To-Wear conversation though, she was talking about the OTHER women, the women who are making fun of the fashion talkers. There’s a whole slew of attendees who can’t STAND the “girlishness” that surrounds the event. The arguments I’ve heard usually boil down into something like: “MEN going to a blogging conference wouldn’t be chatting about what shoes they’re packing, so why are WE?” and “We aren’t going to get DRESSED UP, we are going to LEARN and NETWORK so shut UP about your CLOTHES!”

And I sigh, because this is the part of blogging I can’t stand – the catty part.

I know that all of us want to Take Our Blogs Seriously and that we all want to be viewed as Professional and not fashion-obsessed “lady bloggers gone wild” at a convention. But for lot of us, we DON’T do these sorts of things but once or twice a year, and it can be nerve-wracking to think about your clothes (and also fun!) I don’t see anything unprofessional about wanting to look your best and asking for feedback and help from your community in putting your best face forward. That’s why most of us are blogging in the first place anyway, right?

Also, Twitter and Facebook are there for people to use however they’d like; neither you nor I have any business commenting on someone else’s use of it, even if you think it’s, like, OMG THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL THING EVER. Because you know what’s even MORE unprofessional than squealing about shoes? Being a bitch.

I’m currently doing Weight Watchers, and every week I blog a bit about what I’ve learned and experienced, and whether I’ve lost or gained weight for the week. I take notes in the weekly meetings and post them, too.

This week had a “learning experience”: I had gelato one night and got a tough lesson about being really hungry at 10 pm if you choose ice cream for an 8 pm dinner. (It was totally worth it, and also, wahoo for being an adult and having ice cream for dinner sometimes, but I won’t do it again.)

Over all, though, I had a week full of excellent eating. In the Weight Watchers world, we were all about vegetables and fruits this week so I made special efforts to get in lots of them. It was fun to try new things. Cauliflower roasted, yes! Okra, heck no! Too slimy! Spaghetti squash gave me the closest thing to a religious experience I can hope for, and it’ll be a new staple around here.

I did the weekly challenge successfully: 5 out of 7 days, fill your plate with half veggies. I was feeling pretty good.

Then Saturday happened.

I went to a baby shower in Boston. It was ladies only, so Rob stayed behind in Brooklyn. I missed him, and because of a whole bunch of stuff going on, I was stressed to be without him for 24 hours. My reaction to that stress was that I went out to dinner and turned into a Hoover vacuum.

“This comfort eating!” I realized. I never had a problem with “comfort eating” before, and if I comfort ate in the past at all it was never a conscious action. To tell the truth, I was more excited to recognize what I was doing than I was dismayed at doing it.

“Hmmm. I should probably stop now that I realize what this is,” I thought. But I didn’t. I popped open another pat of foil-wrapped butter and slathered it on my second roll. I ate all of my dinner even thought it was enough for two. I got the cream-based soup, too. (Salad? Puh-lease.) I skipped dessert (it was carbs I was after… carbs and butter) but went for the whole-milk cappuccino.

Then Sunday happened.

Our buddy Dan has a new apartment and a new meat smoker, so he wanted to make us ribs. His girlfriend made some sort of sexy “banana cream and bourbon” pie with homemade whipped cream. I was still recovering from Saturday, but… you know. I was at someone’s house! It’s rude to not eat at least three huge ribs, and a huge serving of pie! Right?

Anyway.

The five days I wasn’t shooting Weight Watchers to hell seemed to keep me on track for the week and I lost 1.2 pounds. That 10 pound mark is on the horizon! It might get here sooner if I focus a little more, but so far so good.

This week was about Non-Scale Victories, those little things you do to feel good when the scale is stuck. My notes on the meeting are below the jump.

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The summer is so hot; we are all so hot.

I’m left with two choices: the jet-engine noise of the air conditioner or sleeping in swampy, stuffy conditions. It sucks either way.

I slept at my grandmother’s house the other night, and it was one of the most terrifying nights of sleep ever. I had nightmare after nightmare, and didn’t fall asleep properly until 5:30 am. I don’t know why; I’ve slept there before just fine. Hell, I lived there for years not so long ago. But I’ve gotten used to sleeping with three dogs and Rob in the room with me, and it just wasn’t the same without the usual chorus of snoring, the large hairy arm flung over my face suddenly in the middle of the night, and the more-often-than-not sneaking into bed of certain small dogs who like to curl in the nooks of my body and snooze.

Speaking of certain dogs: the other day Leeloo was coming around the side of my desk while I was unhooking my camera from the USB cable attaching it to the computer. She caught it across her chest and pulled it from my hands, and it crashed and broke. Actually, the camera is fine but my favorite lens broke, hopelessly. I’d buy a new lens, but I’m weeks away from upgrading my camera to full-frame anyway, so that seems foolish. I’m now upgrading sooner than I thought, but not quite yet, so I’m currently camera-less. It seems that now the universe has put a number of Amazing Photographic Opportunities in my path. I’m sure they were all there before, too, I’m just feeling quite annoyed. But not at Leeloo. How could I be when she has a face like this:

Matty was walking around this morning shaking his head, and I sighed.

“Come here,” I said, “and let me see that ear!”

He trotted over and I lifted one up of his floppy ears to peer inside. It was too easy, so I went for the other one. He immediately tried to run away from me, and we got into a bit of a power struggle. Matty is extremely polite and mild-mannered, so rather than growling and snapping he headbutts and wiggles.

“Yeah, no, I really don’t like this… *headbutt*… so maybe you can *headbutt* stop now. Maybe? Please? *headbutt*” We both have headaches now.

When I finally got him in place by use of a sleeper hold, he went all gloomy and resigned and I was able to take a look.

Guh-ROSS! His ear canal is filled with dark maroon goo – an unholy mixture of dried blood and ear wax. Maybe some mite shit in there, if there are mites, which is likely. Oh, sorry, maybe you should put down the sandwich you were eating.

I cleaned it out with some witch hazel. Our old vet recommended this treatment before moving on to medications, a solution I like because it’s both better for the dog and better for my wallet. We’ll keep an eye on it for the next few days, and it seemed to help immediately, too, since he stopped fussing so much. Right now he’s sleeping off the trauma.

Poor buddy.

I’m currently doing Weight Watchers, and every week I blog a bit about what I’ve learned and experienced, and whether I’ve lost or gained weight for the week. I take notes in the weekly meetings and post them, too.

I stayed on plan this week with eating, but for the first time since starting Weight Watchers I didn’t think about it very hard. Two reasons, I think: one, it’s becoming more and more of a habit and less of “something new I’m doing” and two, to say that other things are on my mind is an understatement (that’s a whole other blog post).

Two weeks ago I ended up eating too much while on vacation, but I kept track of everything I ate. It’s BRUTAL to be tracking more and more points as the day goes on when you’re WAY over “budget”, but I kept telling myself “it’s just information”, not an assessment of the sort of person I am. That’s still tough to remember!

I skipped the meeting and weigh-in last week since I’d just gotten in, so this week my weight reflected two weeks of activity (which I’m guessing was a fluctuation up and then down): a loss of .6 pounds.

Our meeting was about the benefits of fruits and veggies – did you know the FDA is about to up the daily recommended serving to 7-9 a day? Notes on the meeting are below the jump.

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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

I posted this song on my Tumblr blog ages ago, and Rebecca posted this version, a spontaneous performance of this incredibly happy song, today. I love it! It reminds me of Rob so much. I was figuratively (and, for a while, literally) homeless before he took me in five years ago.

I love being “home” here with Rob, so much so that I had the word engraved on his wedding band. But still. Still. Even all these years later, even after he claims it is he who is the lucky one, it’s a hard concept for me to accept. I was taken in, reached out to and pulled up. I married up.

It’s kind of embarrassing to not have taken myself up, as if the anti-feminist undercurrents of my upbringing in church (where Man is The Head and Woman is an ‘Helpmeet’) and my blue-collar, bad-with-money upbringing came to pass and was skirted only by the fact that I happened to fall in love with the right person.

Still, I wouldn’t have had it any other way because (in the words of another fantastic song) God only knows where I’d be without him.

It’s something I am still working on being ok with. This makes me a mildly awful person, and I’m so embarrassed, but it’s been nearly a week and I couldn’t think of anything else to blog about.

Rob likes to let the world know where he’s going by way of neatly labeled tee shirts.

It was an epic journey to Milwaukee.  Rob and I DROVE THERE like insane people. It’s a two hour, $78 zip-over flight with the wonderful “free hot chocolate chip cookies on every plane because we’re from the Midwest and that’s how we roll” Midwest Airlines, but we went with the 15 hour car ride (and, sadly, no free hot chocolate chip cookies).

Chevy gave us a 2010 Equinox for a week, and since we rarely drive around Brooklyn when it’s so much easier to jump on the the subway or walk, we decided to take a road trip so that we could enjoy having the fancy car with built in do-dads like XM, in-dash navigation, and video screens in the backseats. It even has a camera on the bottom of the car in the back so when you go in reverse, you can see the ground in the video screen on the dashboard and can’t accidentally run over a dog or your bike, or a little kid. It’s pretty awesome feature but, after using it for a week, my ability to parallel park without it has diminished significantly.

It came fresh off the lot with a new car smell. Chevy didn’t give us a mileage limit, and Rob and I are punks so we thought “How far can we get and be back in a week”? It took us all of three seconds to decide where to go.

Rob’s mom said, “What the heck is in Milwaukee?!” which is actually the sentiment a lot of people had, but it was a no-brainer for us. Jake and Tracy are in Milwaukee. Duh.

This photo makes my heart go gooey with love and bunny feelings.

It was the best kind of vacation for me, half vacation-y things (Jake set up a sailing tour for us, we toured museums and the Jelly Belly warehose, and we played mini golf) and half just hanging out in Tracy’s house, living life with her (drinking in her bars with her friends, sitting around her office on our laptops).

I also got to meet Tracy’s girlfriend, finally! It’s nerve-wracking for me to meet a friend’s significant other, because what if they’re some awful jerk-face? Then what? Pretend they’re so wonderful or go, “Girl! What are you thinking!” and risk alienating your friend? Does anyone else get this worried about it, or is it just me? I was spared such drama however; they are wonderfully, delightfully perfect for each other, and I liked her very much. Good job, Tracy!

We’re on a boat, motherfucker!

It will likely be our last road trip that long. Rob and I had a good time together in the car, and I am so glad to be married someone that doesn’t annoy me after being cooped up, just the two of us, for 30 hours, but it was so draining, and I can’t sleep well on the road which makes me cranky. (And you won’t like me when I’m cranky.) It took me a full day to recover.

I skipped Weight Watchers this week. I was too tired and REALLY didn’t want to see the scale anyway – Milwaukee has a lot of good beer, and I tried all of it. Twice.

Cheers!