NSVs

On weight loss message boards, a lot of times you read about NSVs (or nonscale victories). In other words, cool stuff that happens that isn't reflected on the scale (compliments, etc.).

I had a cool NSV Saturday morning. I decided that I wanted to check my true resting heart rate again (that is, in the morning before you get out of bed). It's best to check it on a weekend day or some other day when you don't have to wake up with any alarm.

So I checked mine (with my heart rate monitor, so I didn't miscount):

46 beats per minute

Pretty darn cool!

The last time I checked it a few months ago it was 66 bpm, so it's definitely come down a lot.

Yet another reason why running rocks!!!

OH YEAH, I also improved my 3[.07] mile time Sunday morning--35:36 (11:34/mile)!

We have our second kickball practice tonight at 9 p.m., so we're pretty much just hanging around until then.

My parents rock!

Just sayin'.

June 2008 @ Jimmy Buffett

August 2009 @ Oak Island


My mom has become a super cyclist and walker and my dad just finished Day 36 of P90X (he's also still running and cycling--he ran 3 miles today at 8:41/mile).

I think it's pretty awesome that my dad is 25 years older than me and is running miles 4:21 faster than me!

Go mom and dad!

There's gonna be a lot more room in the seats at the App. games this year!!

If you're looking for a funny movie and aren't easily offended, Brian and I highly recommend "The Goods." It's hilarious!

A River Runs Through It*

* It = Our Backyard

This afternoon, it rained pretty much the hardest I've ever seen it rain for a good 20 minutes. It was pretty crazy. Once the rain stopped, I was walking by the sliding glass door and happened to glance outside and was surprised to find out that we now have river access from our backyard:

Sorry the footage sucks. That's why I manage content and don't film it.

We have a drainage easement right at the back of our property that we had occasionally notice fills up with some water after it has rained. However, now that a lot of the houses along the back side of the easement have been built, H.H. Hunt (one of the builders in our 'hood) has planted grass seed and covered it with hay. It pretty much sucks for the people who are behind us where the land is significantly lower (especially because a lot of their grass seed washed away today). I'm just glad that our house is up on a hill (kinda like Jerusalem)! None of this flooding was on any of our property. We're not sure what's up with that drain right behind us with the black meshy stuff. We're pretty sure it's just there to keep construction mud out of the drain and that the mesh will be removed when the house immediately behind us is finished. Hopefully that will help reduce the flooding in the future.

We also came across something pretty funny at the grocery store Wednesday night. Smack dab in the middle of the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was a box of Kraft Dinner (which is what Kraft Mac&Cheese is called in Canada). The box is clearly meant to be sold in Canada because it's half-French/half-English.

We would have bought it but decided not to because we have our own box of Kraft Dinner that we bought in Canada on our first road trip there. (Kraft Dinner is immortalized in a few Barenaked Ladies' songs--namely, "If I Had a Million Dollars.")

Pretty funny stuff!

If you're bored on Saturday, Brian will be hosting a shift at WCPE from 3-6 p.m. (www.theclassicalstation.org | 89.7 FM).

I, on the other hand, will be hosting no one.

I did, however, run my fastest 3.07 miles this afternoon: 37:55 (12:20/mile). The fastest mile I've run is 11:16 (on Monday), but that was only 2.39 miles. If I could get under 30 minutes for 3.07 miles, I'd be ecstatic, but I'm thinking it's gonna have to be about 50 degrees and I'm going to need to be about 30 lbs. lighter. :-)

And, finally, we got our kickball game schedule today. If you ever want to come out and see us, we will probably need fan support! All games are at East Wake Middle School.

Wednesday 8/26 at 9pm
Monday 8/31 at 9pm
Thursday 9/3 at 9pm
Thursday 9/10 at 7:30pm
Tuesday 9/15 at 8pm
Thursday 9/17 at 7:30pm
Monday 9/21 at 7pm
Thursday 9/24 at 7:30pm
Thursday 10/1 at 7:30pm
Monday 10/5 at 7pm

GO TEAM!

Wednesday Night Groceries | Nice People

We went back to the grocery store last night (even though we had just been on Friday) to get back in the same weekly pattern (plus, we were almost out of fruit and some things that we didn't get Friday).

The List

Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

Kellogg's Smart Start Cinnamon Raisin Cereal

Ken's Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette

South Beach Living Mocha Snack Bars

Healthy Choice Mixers (Ziti with Meat Sauce)

Propel (Grape)

Diet Cheerwine

Harris Teeter Diced Tomatoes

Mrs. Cubbison's Croutons

World Harboro Teriyaki Marinade

Fresh Caught Alaskan Salmon (8 oz.)

Boar's Head Genoa Salami

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Weight Watchers Chocolate Brownies

Yellow Bananas (3)

Bartlett Pears (2)

Blueberries

Dried Figs

Cucumber (1)

Yellow Sweet Onion (1)

Smart Ones Chocolate Eclairs

Smart Ones Fudge Brownies

Ittibitz Ice Cream

Lean Cuisine Three Meat Pizza

Harris Teeter (Sweet, Frozen) Pepper Strips

Sargento Colby Jack Cheese Sticks

Harris Teeter Fat Free Cream Cheese

Yoplait Light Orange Cream Yogurt

Yoplait Light Strawberry Shortcake Yogurt

Yoplait Light White Chocolate Strawberry Yogurt

Yoplait Light Cherry Cobbler Yogurt

Eggbeaters

Harris Teeter Fat Free Half and Half

***

I've pretty much felt crappy all week. Just kinda tired and generally "blah."

Tonight, when I came home from work, I actually fell asleep on the couch for about 30 minutes until Brian came home. When he came home, he was Mr. Up and At'Em and went right upstairs, changed into his workout clothes, and leashed Gatsby up into his special new walking harness that keeps him from pulling (it works great!!) and they were out the door.

I, on the other hand, was still laying on the couch half awake.

It took pretty much all the energy in the world to motivate myself to get up, walk upstairs, put my shoes on, and go out to run.

Right after I started running, I went by one of our neighbor's houses who we know sorta well (aka, we know their names). He was outside on his patio and gave me the nicest compliment about weight loss. It definitely kept me motivated through the rest of my run. That was the second compliment I had received this week from people that I pretty much just know as acquaintances. It really goes to show how small comments to people can really make people feel better!

It was only 88 degrees out tonight, but it was INCREDIBLY humid. Probably a CODE BLACK ozone day. Fortunately, none of us died, but I think Brian probably thought he was going to die.

Speaking of whom, he's probably going to have to go jeans shopping pretty soon because the ones he has now are getting way too big!!! YAY BRIAN!

TGI(almost)F

Title Image Update

From left to right, top to bottom:

L&B with the Stanley Cup (June 06)

L at the hotel in Michigan right before App. completed the greatest update in College Football History (Sept. 07)

L&B with Sold sign (Feb. 08)

B driving home from Baton Rouge (escaping Hurricane Gustav) (Sept. 08)

L&B at Put-in-Bay, Ohio (Oct. 03, I think)

L&B before a Panthers game (Nov. 03, I think)

B ice skating in Ottawa (Feb. 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

G on the couch (April 09)

B on our honeymoon cruise (June 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding rehearsal (May 09)

L&B at an App. game (Nov. 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

B with the weedeater (July 08)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

L in Ocean sporting Callie's App. jersey (June 09)

L&B at L's Master's graduation (May 06)

G napping over Christmas in Ocean (Jan. 09)

Bears | Laura Beth is a Klutz

I think I mentioned a few months ago that every time I lose 10 pounds I e-mail NutriSystem and they mail me a bear.

So my fourth bear came on Friday:

Aren't they cute?

They live on the TV in the exercise room to help keep me motivated.

Speaking of which, I never got out to do my exercise until after it was dark, so I decided to do the elliptical. I don't mind the elliptical, but sometimes it can get really boring and ever since I've started running, it's been really, really hard to keep my heart rate up while I exercise. (Because my heart is getting stronger, it beats less often when I'm not working out as hard, so I have to go really, really hard to keep it up if I'm not running.)

Like, my poor little legs were moving so fast that I got sick of it. I hung around for like 32 minutes and then decided to jump off and just run around the house for the last 8 minutes (up and down the stairs and so on). Well, as soon as I jumped off the elliptical to bounce out of the room, I definitely plowed right into the side of the door. It kinda hurt, but it's all good (nothing broken but my pride). Kept going and ran around for 8 minutes with Gatsby chasing me. (He couldn't hang the whole time though and had to stop for a water break.)

Brian just thought I was insane.

Probably so.

An organized pantry and fun with the rice cooker

Today I spent the day organizing our kitchen pantry (and kitchen cabinets), which was BADLY needed. When I first started NutriSystem, I just kinda threw all the old food up onto the top of the pantry to make space for the NS food and it looked not-so-very-good. In fact, I got hit in the head last night when I was putting up the groceries.

So, if you want to laugh at our lack of disorganization, you can because I took before and after pics of the pantry.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/PantryReorganization#

I'm not incredibly pleased with the top shelf (we really need more shelves down on the floor), but it will do for now because it's pretty much all baking stuff and other things that we don't use everyday. I tried to organize based on what we use the most (so breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods are on the bottom shelf; snacks on the middle shelf; and other cooking supplies on the portable shelves on the floor).

After the pantry, I was pretty much on a roll, so started reorganizing some of the cabinets to consolidate things and move things around so that they'd be in better places on the counter.

Gatsby pretty much laid on the couch and stared at me and watched the Roomba zip by on the floor. (Brian drove to Wilson with his friend Adam so that Adam could take some pictures for his Web site.)

When Brian got home, we decided to attempt to make fried rice since we've had a rice cooker since February that we had never used. The rice cooker was pretty much the greatest thing ever. We had perfectly cooked brown rice in like 20 minutes and then we each were able to fry it up like we wanted.

Brian's was pretty much just fried rice with soy sauce and then he had some turkey sausage sandwiches. My rice was fried up with some peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and some veggie burger crumbles. Both our meals were DELICIOUS. We were so pleased and it was really fun to cook together. Next time I think I want to put some Eggbeaters in mine.

My dinner:

Brian's dinner:

Oh yeah, I also had a veggie omelet again this morning--does anyone know the best way to flip an omelet? I seriously screw it up every time. At least it tastes good, even if the presentation sucks!

Tonight's grocery list

This week we had to go on Friday night instead of Wednesday night. We also had a lovely meal at Kanki with Brian's parents and grandma. My sushi was delicious: salmon nigiri; half mary roll; half scallop banzai roll!

The Receipt

Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi Fridge Pack

Hanover Chick Peas

Ocean Spray Craisins

Bounty Paper Towels (with pretty designs)

Cascade Gel

Kikkoman Low Sodium Soy Sauce

Crystal Light (individual and family size packs)

Peter Pan Reduced Fat Peanut Butter

V8 Low Sodium Vegetable Juice

Propel (Black Cherry, Kiwi Strawberry, and Grape)

McCormick Sesame Seeds

Harris Teeter Raisins

Harris Teeter Diced Tomatoes and Chilis

Harris Teeter Mushrooms

Harris Teeter Black Beans

Harris Teeter Paper Plates (100 c)

Harris Tetter Purified Water

Lundberg Brown Rice

Tsang Hoisin Sauce

Snyders of Hanover Mini Pretzels

Diet Sunkist Fridge Pack

Purafilter

Genoa Salami

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Plumco Plums (3)

Yellow Bananas (3)

Red Seedless Grapes

Pink Lady Apples (2)

Red Pear (1)

Green Leaf Lettuce

Hot House Tomatoes (4)

Orange Habanero Peppers (2)

Kashi Turkey Sandwich Pocket (2)

Smart Ones Brownie a la Mode

Smart Ones Cookie Dough Sundae

Healthy Choice Portabella Marsala Pasta

Bocca Garden Vegetable Burgers

Green Giant Baby Vegetable Mix

Harris Teeter Green, Red, and Yellow Pepper Strips

Sargento Reduced Fat Provolone Cheese

Breakstone Fat Free Cottage Cheese

Yoplait Orange Cream Fat Free Yogurt

Harris Teeter Yogurt (pina colada, key lime, lemon, vanilla, banana cream, blueberry, cherry vanilla)

Fage Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Silk Light Soymilk

Harris Teeter Skim Milk

I kinda like typing everything out--I think it's a good way to realize if you really need everything you got.

First kickball practice was Thursday night. Lots of fun and our team should have a super good time. I actually got on base a few times. Next practice on Monday night--most likely a scrimmage.

My Delicious Dinner!!

3/4 cup whole wheat pasta

4 oz. ground turkey

1/2 cup cooked (previously frozen) spinach

3/4 cup diced tomatoes

1/4 cup sliced mushrooms

1 clove garlic

onion powder

oregano

black pepper

Boil pasta.

Cook ground turkey in a large pan.

Mince garlic.

Cook frozen spinach in microwave.

Once turkey is cooked, move it to a plate and clean out any excess grease in the saute pan (there probably won't be much.)

Add diced tomatoes, cooked turkey, mushrooms, garlic, and spinach to the saute pan. Season with onion powder, oregano, and black pepper and stir until everything is warm throughout. Toss with cooked pasta until everything is nice and mixed.

DELICIOUS! I also garnished with a teeny amount of parmesan cheese.

Not too bad for an entire meal:

Calories - 328

Fat - 9 grams

Carbs - 30 grams

Fiber - 7 grams

Protein - 32 grams

I would have preferred to make it vegetarian and use chickpeas, lentils, or some yummy beans, but we didn't have any and we had plenty of frozen ground turkey in the freezer...

The Battle of the Great Cupcakes

Because I'm a planning-type person, I had my list ready to go Wednesday night for our grocery shopping endeavor. (Score 1, Laura).

Of course, I forgot the list. (Score 1, Cupcakes)

However, because I have a good memory, I remembered everything I needed and didn't forget anything. (Score 2, Laura).

I also raided our cupboards to see if we had a cupcake pan. Couldn't find one--although, I really thought we had one. Oh well, couldn't find it anywhere--guess I was thinking of the cookie sheets mom gave me for Christmas.

So, Friday night, we went shopping and I got a cupcake pan at Kohl's (with the gift cards I had and 15% off coupon [Score 3, Laura]) and then went to Target to get a vessel in which to transport the cupcakes to Durham.

Saturday morning, I was up and at'em and decided to make an omelet for breakfast. It was an awesome omelet! I sauteed up some peppers, onions, and mushrooms and combined that with some EggBeaters and a little bit of cheese. SO, SO, SO Yummy. [Score 4, Laura]

After I ate my omelet, I started peeling a grapefruit (thanks, Laura, for teaching me that you can eat a grapefruit like an orange!!!!!). And, then, it dawned on me that I had to zest a lemon for my cupcakes. However, we had no microplane, cheese grater, or anything. Looks like I'm going back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond!!! [Score 1, Grater]

Not a huge deal because I had plenty of time. To be smart, I completely read through the recipe to make sure I understood it all and had everything I needed. "Hmm, wire cooling racks. Yes, we have those." OK, actually, we have one because the second one broke during a Christmas cookie baking expedition. [Score 1, Wire Cooling Rack] "No biggie! I've got to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond for the microplane, so I'll just get more cooling racks." [Score 5, Laura]

"Hmm...what's that buried near our one cooling rack? Oh look, it's the cupcake pan that I knew I had that mom gave to me at Christmas." [Score 2, Cupcakes]

So, at this point we have three cupcake pans (because the cupcake transport vessel also came with a cupcake pan). Good thing, Kohl's is right by Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'll just pop-in and return it.

So, I hop in the car and head over to the shopping strip in Knightdale and head to Kohl's. I return my cupcake pan; however, I get $3.57 on a gift card back that expires Sunday. (Remember, those handy dandy coupons. Well, they expired Sunday as well, so my gift card also expired.) (Score 1, Kohl's)

So, since I was there, I scoured the sales racks and found a cute pair of capris and some running shorts and only paid like $6 total. (Score 6, Laura)

Then, I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and got my microplane and cheese grater with a 20% off coupon (Score 7, Laura).

Hop back in the car and I'm navigating the millions of sales-tax-less shoppers in the parking lot.

"Ah crap--I forgot the wire cooling rack." (Score 2, Wire Cooling Rack) So, I whip it into a parking space and go into Target and get a nifty cooling rack three-piece combo.

Head home and start baking. I'm really taking my time to make sure I don't mess up. Reading stuff over and over, measuring twice, and I decide to premeasure out the stuff that I have to add. (Score 8, Laura)

Time to zest!!

No problem. I've got an awesome microplane and a lemon.

I am the ZESTING QUEEN. (Score 9, Laura)

Lemon is completely zested. "Hmm, I wonder if that's enough?"

Ah, yes, I've got about 1/2 tablespoon of zest.

Because I'm making 2 batches, I need 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of lemon zest.

Crap.

Yep, no more lemons. All gone. (Score 1, Citrus)

My dry ingredients are mixed.

My oven is preheated.

My ingredients are nicely set out.

I'm covered in flour and sticky with lemon zest. (Score 3, Cupcakes)

So, back to the car I go to head to Lowe's Foods to purchase 4 jumbo lemons. I get my lemons and head back home. I think I rang up the lemons wrong at the U-SCAN. It had said 89cents/lemon, but I only paid 50cents/lemon. (Score 10, Laura)

Get back home and I'm back on my throne as the Zesting Queen.

"When life gives you lemons, you zest them!"

I get my wet ingredients churning in the Kitchen Aid. Delicately adding them as it says, in the perfect order, and it's looking darn good. Nice and pretty and tastes AWESOME. (Score 11, Laura)

OK, yes, the mixer did throw some buttermilk and lemon juice all over me, but I guess that's the price one must pay. (Score 4, Cupcakes)

Batter is done and ready to rock and time to put them in the little cups.

This is very stressful for me.

My type A personality wants them to be perfect and not get batter all over the pan.

It pretty much takes for-freaking-ever and I still get some on the pan that I have to wipe off and I can't get all the cupcakes proportioned correctly. However, because it's pretty much taken me 4 hours to do the "30 minute prep," I'm definitely over it and what it is, is what it is. (Score 5, Cupcakes--Laura surrenders)

So, pop them into the oven and I make the icing, which also tastes awesome.

While the cupcakes are cooling on the New Wire Rack 6000 that I got at Kohl's, I was even able to sneak upstairs and do the elliptical for 45 minutes. (Score 12, Laura)

Came back down and iced the cupcakes (which also took about as long as it takes me to put the batter in the cups [Score 6, Cupcakes]) and I garnish with lavender.

The cupcakes get to "set" before packing while I get ready and off I go to Durham after trying one.

Very, very, very good and only 152 calories/cupcake!! (Although, mine definitely aren't proportionate.)

Proof of my labor:

Up close and personal:

I scanned in the recipe and put it online at http://tinyurl.com/lemon-lavender-cupcakes. I highly recommend them and I'm sure that it will be far less an ordeal for you than for me.

They were well received at the party and all the extras got gone today at work. YAY! (Score 13, Laura)

Final tally: Laura 13, World 11

The party itself was AWESOME. The hosts brew and bottle their own beer and it was fantastic!! We also had tons of great food. Three highlights:

• Mini-pies on a lollipop sticks (they had blackberry, peach, and banana)
• Small toast things covered in gouda cheese and figs (OMG. These things were to die for.)
• A brie cheesewheel baked in some type of doughy bread with a blueberry compote. (Also phenomenal!!)

Super, super good stuff.

Quickly, I also have to tell you about the yummy veggie stirfry I made tonight. Red and yellow peppers with onion and sugar snap peas, a little bit of a super spicy chile garlic puree, teeny bit of olive oil, smidgen of honey, some black pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes. It was hot and spicy, but the honey provided a nice cooling after effect. SO yummy.

I like cooking more than baking because it's far easier to just throw stuff in.

Shopping With the LeBlancs | WCR Update

After dinner tonight, Brian's mom asked me jokingly (OK, maybe not jokingly) if I was going to be sending Twitter updates from the grocery store. I told her that I wasn't, but that I'd be more than happy to oblige by posting our receipt. So, here goes (in order of the receipt)...

Real Lemon Juice

Kashi Snack Bars (Cherry Dark Chocolate Granola)

Velveeta Shells and Cheese Cups

Bounty Napkins

Hormel Bacon Pieces

Hormel Chicken and Dumplings Compleats

Hormel Beef Tips Compleats

Crystal Light Live Active Raspberry Peach

South Beach Cereal Bar (Dark Chocolate)

South Beach Cereal Bar (Cinnamon Raisin)

Magic Pizza and Pasta Spice

Domino Confectioner's Sugar

Dried Lavender Buds

Harris Teeter Diced Canned Tomatoes

Al Dente Whole Wheat Pasta Blend with Flax (Roasted Garlic Fettuccine)

Runner's World

Genoa Salami

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Green Pluot Plums

Yellow Bananas

Bartlett Pears

Lemons

Kashi Fiesta Turkey Sandwich Pocket

IttiBitz Ice Cream (aka Dippin Dots)

Fudgsicles

Smart Ones Three Cheese Pasta

Smart Ones Thai Chicken Rice Noodles

Lean Pockets Ham and Cheddar

Lean Pockets Four Cheese

Lean Pockets Sausage Pepperoni

Tropicana Low Acid Orange Juice

Sargento Vermont Sharp Cheddar

Sorrento Reduced Fat String Cheese

Breakstone Fat Free Cottage Cheese

Harris Teeter Yogurt

Horizon Organic Cage Free Eggs

Harris Teeter Organic Soymilk

Harris Teeter Buttermilk

Can you guess who picked each item?

***

Rumor also has it that Brian LeBlanc's Wake County Roads Web site has been updated.

All roads. All the time.

www.gribblenation.com/wakeco/

Callie and Clay's Wedding Slide Show

For those of you who are bored at work and want to see some of the gazillion pictures from Callie and Clay's wedding (from the professional photographer), a slideshow is online at http://gallery.me.com/leeannadams#100120.

They're really all quite good! Lots and lots of beautiful people there.

There is music to it, so you may want to turn down your sound...

Callie also has a TON of amateur pictures from various wedding goers online at http://picasaweb.google.com/callisonsamuels/WeddingPhotosCombined?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPF3bCn-__hIw&feat=directlink.

I'm Not Getting Up and You Can't Make Me!!!!!!!

This is what Brian found when he woke up this morning:

If that doesn't make you want to go back to bed, I don't know what would!!

Fun With Graphics (and my 200th blog post!)

Tonight, after a yummy dinner at Brian's parents' house, we've pretty much just been vegging out watching the "Next Food Network Star" finale and "Design Star."

Brian is in Web site update mode (and generally uncommunicative--although, I can't blame him. I'm the exact same way when I'm focused on a project!).

So, in that spirit, I've been playing around with pictures. I had Brian take an update picture of me and I melanged that picture with all of the other pictures that I have into a little movie (it's only 16 seconds long and it doesn't have any music...). I have pictures every week from the beginning to week 13 and then tonight's picture (week 28). I wish I had more pictures to include, but life got in the way from weeks 14 to 27. :-)

I also took a screen shot of my NutriSystem weight loss chart because I thought it was pretty interesting. There's 172 days of data, so it's very smooshed together, but I think it generally shows some interesting trends. Of course, the overall trend is downward (yay!), but I also think it's fascinating to see how much it varies upward and downward from day to day. When I look at it, it helps keep me motivated if my daily weigh-ins aren't what I'd want them to be. :-)

Finally, I took my measurements yesterday, and here's where I stand at the end of week 28:

Weight -43 lbs. (-21.04%)

Arms -4.5 in. (-27.27%)

Chest -4.5 in. (-11.39%)

Waist -10.75 in. (-24.57%)

Hips -7 in. (-15.91%)

Thighs -5 in. (-19.61%)

BMI -7.38 pts. (-21.04%)

My waist-to-hip ratio has gone from 99.43% to 89.19%. My goal is for it to be below 80%.

Doing good, but still plenty of work to go!

Oh yeah, and I subscribed to Runner's World tonight. I love getting magazines!!

Have a great week, y'all!

Yay, Saturday! | Different Workouts | Playlist

Today was a productive day for all of us.

Brian spent the day driving around Wake County taking pictures for his Web site, which he's in the process of updating. This is very exciting news because it hasn't been updated in a very long time.

Gatsby spent the day sleeping.

I met up with my friends Laura and Kara at Neomonde in Raleigh for lunch, which was AWESOME. I had a really yummy platter of tabouli, hummus, baba ghanouj, and stuffed grape leaves. Kara brought her daughter Whit, who is freaking adorable (for adorable shots, visit their Web site: www.thegammonfamily.com; Kara's husband, Jed, is a super photographer).

Whit was the star of the whole place. I think nearly everyone who came in there (which was A LOT of people) stopped by our table to see her. She's such a smiley, happy baby and I can't believe she's already 4.5 months old!

It was really great to see Laura and Kara--it had been entirely too long!

After lunch, I headed back east and went to Kohl's in Knightdale for some shopping (yay for perpetual sales and 15% off coupons!) I tried on about a million things, but stuck to my plan to only buy three tops (and two bras, but I doubt y'all care about that). I badly needed some stuff to wear to work because I've pretty much just been wearing the same three things over and over again in different order.

I also just have to take this moment to say that I am not down with all the nonfitted shirts that are à la mode right now. They pretty much make nearly everyone look like they're wearing a tent. If you want to wear a tent, go camping!!!!

So, anyway, it was a very good trip. Most of the shirts I bought were size medium, which was fantastically awesome and super surprising. Also good news is that I got $20 in Kohl's cash and $10 more to use during the tax free weekend, so next weekend I can go and get a pair of pants for free. Yay!!

Afterward, I went to Target and got a little half-length sweater thingie, a jacket, and a super cute purse. I think Brian's probably more happy about the jacket than I am, because now I will shut up about being so cold at restaurants and the grocery store. (Hopefully.)

When I got home, I was feeling all productive, so I spent the late afternoon/early evening cleaning out my closet and dresser. Now, we have two HUGE garbage bags to take to Goodwill tomorrow. Well, minus one pair socks that Gatsby stole midprocess. Yes, my dog steals from the Goodwill. :-(

I tried to be more ruthless this time and I think I did better. Last time, I couldn't bear to get rid of any of my App. stuff. This time I got rid of like 3 App things. However, I still have 11ty billion more. Maybe during football season, I'll try again and can make a bit more progress.

It's really silly how you get attached to clothes. I find myself making excuses not to want to get rid of something and them I'm like, "Dammit, Laura. This is stupid. The shirt is 7 years old. It's time." So, I'm gonna try to do this every few months or so until I reach my goal and then maybe annually thereafter.

I was very pleased to free up so many hangers!! We were at the point where we didn't have one extra hanger in the house. In fact, we had one hanger fewer than articles of clothing, so if all our clothes were washed and we were wearing pajamas, one piece of clothing got no hanger. Complete insanity.

***

After a super late dinner, it was too dark to go run, so I did my "30-Day Shred" video (www.tinyurl.com/30dayshred) and my "Basic Pilates" video. I stepped it up and did level 2 of the 30-Day Shred and it went really well. It's a very short workout (which I don't really like, because I'd rather do 45-60 minutes a day, instead of just 30), and the premise is three 6-minute workouts that consist of 3 minutes of strength work, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs (so, 9 minutes strength, 6 cardio, and 3 minutes abs per workout). The workout is very hard, but I'm not convinced that's the best way to do it. However, it's a good one to have around if you don't have much time or are looking for something different.

The pilates video I have is some 20 minute deal that I've had forever and completely forgot about until the other day. It's a decent introduction and another good one for when you want something different. I could definitely tell that my abs were considerably stronger than the last time I had done the video (maybe 2 years ago?). I'm not 100% down with pilates, but I'll definitely do it again and maybe look around for a different video (I think I got this one in a bargain bin at Walmart).

One thing I am down with is a cool yoga DVD that I got. It has two workouts--30 minutes for in the morning and 30 minutes at night. I've only done the night one, but I absolutely loved it. It was pretty basic, but the stretching felt great and I went to bed feeling completely relaxed. Eventually, I may have to look around for a yoga class to take (but I definitely don't want to join a gym just to take it).

Oh yeah, and on Friday, I did a workout that was in Shape that I really liked (this stupid rain is really messing with my running schedule):

March in place or walk to warm up (Minutes 0-3)

Jumping jacks (3-5)

Run (5-7)

Mountain climbers (7-8) [http://tinyurl.com/mjluur, for workout description]

Squat thrusts (8-9) [http://tinyurl.com/lua94b]

Lunges to front kicks (9-10)

Run (10-12)

Mountain climbers (12-13)

Squat thrusts (13-14)

Lunges to front kicks ( 14-15)

Run (15-17)

Mountain climbers (17-18)

Squat thrusts (18-19)

Lunges to front kicks (19-20)

Push-ups (20-21)

Run (21-23)

Push-ups (23-24)

Run (24-26)

March in place or walk to cool down (26-30)

I skipped the cool down and hopped on the elliptical for 25 more minutes afterward. It was a FANTASTIC workout. Really hard, but lots of good transitions. I'll definitely be doing it again. Gatsby also loved chasing me around as I was running all over our upstairs.

***

Earlier this week, I completely trashed all the music that was on my computer because I had like 15GB of stuff that I never listened to and it was completely unmanageable and slowing my computer way down. I had been listening to a lot of Brian's music, so I decided to use his music as a base and start over. So, from that, I created a playlist of uptempo music to listen to while exercising (www.gribblenation.com/personal/laura/exerciseplaylist.pdf). I am absolutely horrible about remembering the names of songs, so if you can think of any others that would be good to add, let me know! Having good music makes all the difference!