Blatant Bragging

i've had a lot more time in the last four months. For the first few weeks i spent it on nothing special: watching more Netflix (until they put me on the "badgirl list" for getting too many movies too fast), calling my mom and friends so often it annoyed the crap out of them, and reading the Twilight books (a true guilty pleasure).

i maintained the same bad habits i had developed while focusing all my attention on my man. i ate fast food because it was easy and, you know, fast. i stayed up too late at night. i spent my weekends on my butt on the couch or on my butt in my truck. i even took some of those habits to new levels. i think at one point i ate and entire 8x8 cake in one day. i stepped on the scale in November and found i had gained 5 pounds since the breakup. Five pounds in just four weeks!

And i realized i was going about this all wrong. i had all this time on my hands now... i could use it... on myself! So that's what i started doing. i went back to my favorite organic store, Green Acres Market, and have shopped there almost exclusively since. i started spending the time in the evenings to cook good, healthy meals that don't sit in your stomach like a rock, ala Burger King or Tyson chicken fingers.

i started going back to the gym regularly. Three times a week, at least. And on weekends? Pfft... i thought i would never fill that time and they would always approach me with a daunting cloud. i thought i was doomed to forever lay on the couch and glance hopefully at my cell phone. So i started walking. At first it was just Saturday, just three miles, around two city blocks, and back. Now i've added another mile and a half and, whenever the weather cooperates, Sunday too.

What do you know, i stepped on the scale this morning and not only have i lost that extra five pounds, but another fifteen on top of that!

It's not just the weight loss, i think, that is making me feel physically better. i have made some other resolutions, like getting enough sleep, having more bubble baths, and even little things like taking the time to paint my nails. In two months i have made myself into a healthier person, and i was just euphoric this morning when i woke up and found the results. Not that there haven't been results - i felt a rib for the first time in a year last week. i can vauguely make out a wasitline now (thanks to the oblique machine). i can lift more, walk up more stairs, and my feet don't hurt at the end of the day. But it's nice to see it numerically too.

So, sorry, i had to brag a bit. i know it's unseemly, but i'm too excited and i don't want to call up my family because i want to surprise them when i see them next.

In other news, i got my new camera! For a little over a year, i've been telling everyone who buys me presents to chuck the actual gifts and just put whatever they would have spent on a Wal-Mart card. This month i just threw in the last $50 and bought a Nikon D40. This is pretty cheesy, but i took some photos of my new camera with my old camera:



i am still figuring out all the controls, and i need to buy another lens before my Summer Adventure. But i already love it and can't wait to get out and take some landscapes. Now all i need to do is move to Maine so that i actually have some landscape to photograph!

For the moment, settle for one of Sao, fearless attack cat.