Learning to Like Veggies Again...

...Green Giant helps.

Some of you (a select few) may know that I started Weight Watchers on Saturday. This is a big step for me, as I've done Weight Watchers in the past (with huge success - I lost a total of 61 pounds). I was nearly within twenty-five pounds of my goal weight, and looked like this:

I pre-paid for nine weeks. NINE WEEKS. That's a commitment. Over half a semester! It was a great deal - I would have had to pay a $10 joining fee, then $12 a week, but, on this plan, they waived the joining fee and I'm only paying $11/ week (and all at once, not spread out each week).

I'm at home with my parents in Nashville tonight and Mom decided to cook dinner - she had a frozen pasta and veggie mix (7 points on new WW PointsPlus, 4 points on the old Points system - we figured it up, just out of curiosity) and a Green Giant veggie package. I had a cup of pasta and vegetables, and a cup of the vegetable mix - around three servings of vegetables, total. My meal was over half vegetables.

I had a sort of break-through while eating that meal. I was feeling sorry for myself last night, wailing and weeping (literally) over my perceived misfortune at choosing to commit myself to relearning how to live and eat at this point in my life. I went out to Taco Bell and got a beef taco and pintos and cheese just because I could. This is not necessarily a bad thing - It was only a seven point meal, but it was the defiance that I really enjoyed. Hell yeah, I'm gonna eat Taco Bell. Screw you, Weight Watchers!

While eating my meal tonight, I realized that this is LITERALLY the first time since I quit weight Watchers that I've had a meal that was over 50% vegetables, let alone nearing 75%. And, let me tell you, I was full afterwards.

I had lunch today with a prospective caterer at the City Cafe in Nashville. I ate delicious tilapia, mashed potatoes, and a corn cake. After tonight's dinner, I still have 18 points left. 18 points! That's enough for dessert several times over, if I decide I want it. I am super pleased and remembered why I lost sixty pounds on WW back in 2005. Their plan works and, with commitment from me (as with anything in life), I almost never felt like I was denying myself. I hope I'm good enough to remember how good WW has been to me and can leave the "feeling sorry for myself" antics behind.

Wedding Gab

It's been a month since Jordan proposed and I accepted. Since then, we've researched venues, attended bridal shows (overwhelming), refined our vision, rethought our vision, redefined it, and returned.

The one thing that's been amazing is how much everybody wants to help! My mom's cousin Caryn has been sending me links to various contests. We've already won a beautiful set of toasting flutes from Lenox! My aunt Teresa has really been helping us articulate what we want and my sweet neighbor has taken it upon himself to give us free reign over his gay-rage of decor, give us amazing ideas, and even offer himself as an amateur caterer.

We're still waiting to hear back from the church so that we can set a date, but we're looking at mid-October. We found an awesome photographer that we're going to meet with this Sunday, have already started a contract for a cake with a bakery in Dickson, and have picked out Save the Dates (waiting on the deacon at church to get back with us so we can actually buy them). We even bought placecard favors that are amazing. :)

We have ideas about what we want. Decor and details should reflect who we are as a couple. Mom has been advocating that Jordan and I sit down and write out our vision for the wedding so that we aren't forced into compromise by well-meaning people who only want to help, and so that we can better articulate our wants. I've found that I have a lot of difficulty articulating what I want. Like I said, we have strong ideas, but I hate the feeling I get when I put one of my ideas out there and get a less-than-excited reaction from well-intentioned but outspoken folk.

The thing that's most overwhelming to me (of all things) is table linens and chair covers! Table linens are ridiculously priced, both to rent and to purchase. Should we get linen napkins as well? The cost is astounding. We found a place in Memphis that rented covers for $1 a chair (plus set up fees), but none that we've seen in Nashville have been that inexpensive! Am I being ridiculous for wanting chair covers? Should I just suck it up and go with the uncovered reinforced plastic folding chairs that come stock with the reception hall? Is it really that big of a deal? I bet chair covers will look crazy anyway. At least the plastic folding chairs are aerodynamic and simple. 

The wedding, when it finally arrives in October, will reflect who Jordan and I are as a couple. It won't be perfect, but it will be amazing because not only will it be the culmination of ten months of preparation, but because it will also mark the beginning of our forever. That's all that will really matter when we look back on our wedding album in ten, twenty, thirty or more years. 

Loved this - The Mermaid and the Whale

I am not usually one to spread dumb internet forwards, but I liked this one. Let's make goals to appreciate ourselves - bodily, psychologically and intellectually. <3

Whether it means losing some extra pounds that keep us unhealthy or appreciating the body and mind nature has graced us with, we should all embrace our inner whale. :)

Recently, in a large city in France , a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.

It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia.Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them ... where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.

With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.

So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨