WW Wednesday

This week in my weight loss journey (sorry, never going to stop cringing at that word) proved to be a calm one.
There weren't many ups and downs.  I tracked my foods and planned for bigger meals like date night on Friday.
I drank more water but still didn't completely give up the diet drinks.
Overall I am proud of the steady-as-she-goes feel of the week.
My weigh-in was nice -- I got my next +5 sticker at WW -- and I feel very secure that I will reach my goal one day.  That day might not be in 2011, but I'm just fine with that.  Honest.

Lesson learned this week:
I remembered how good it feels to be in control of my food choices.  Just because I have an urge or craving, it doesn't mean I have to give into it.  It can be a passing thought with no power over me.

When I try to feed boredom or emotions, I will always be left feeling hungry of spirit and sick of stomach.

Goal for the week: Add more fruits and vegetables to my day and continue tracking.

P.S.  I wanted to add that I've lost 36 pounds since I first enlisted your support through my blaaaahg eight and a half months ago.
Thank you for allowing me to share my journey and supporting me along the way.  Every word and action means more to me than you can know.
Also, I know many of you following my journey may be wanting to lose a few lb's of your own.  Please feel free to post a comment and join in the slow-and-lasting-weight-loss fun.  Or maybe you just made a healthier change or have a tip to share.  My ears eyes are wide open to suggestions!

~Cayce

A real "American Girl", and she's no doll

(Warning: BabyCakes overload!  Many of these are droid pics so forgive their quality.  Some pics are better than no pics, am I right?)


BabyCakes, my sweet second --  I mean YOUNGEST AND ALWAYS WILL BE YOUNGEST -- child is at a great age. (Whew, writing "second" scared me there for a bit.  Grandparents, don't get any funny ideas.)
Eighteen months seems to be the amount of time she needed to really take that personality of hers and run!

Now, as my friend Rachel and I like to reassure each other say, "It's not all butterfly kisses and rainbows" (or some variation of that phrase -- whatever we can remember in our sleep-deprived states), and I have the hopefully-gray-covering box of hair dye sitting on my counter to prove it. (I'm a little scared to take the plunge and try it.)
But as I said, my little curl girl is growing up quite nicely.

Even if she does eat cro.tch cheerios.
(Why do they taste better after being marinated in mystery carseat nastiness?)

AND proudly dumps entire cups of chocolate protein shake she stole from her brother all over herself.

AND if she does have a strange first-word-inducing fascination with shoes.
(I know. I'm the only woman in America who doesn't get into shoes. Can you blame with with my hobbit feet? At least I ventured into the world of wedges this summer.  They're like heels with training wheels and it turns out I like them.  For short periods, anyway.)

But she's always just done her own thing.
Held her own in bouncy houses and playing with the big boys.
Busted through whatever obstacles she encountered.  That is, if she even saw them as obstacles.

In the 18 months I have had the privilege of knowing her, I've fallen deeply in love with the independent, beautiful, strong, funny, boisterous, loving little person she is.

I'm so glad she was born an American.  So glad that I am an American.
There are many places in this world where being born a female means a very certain unenviable fate.
Millions and millions of girls and women who never hear the phrase "you can do anything you put your mind to."  Heck, who never even have enough food to eat.

BabyCakes, our ever-shrinking world may try to assign a low value to your worth.

You might love shoes and pink and all things sparkling and flowery.

But you will never, ever, EVER be "just a curl girl" to me.

Happy Friday!

Hey! Just wanted to pop in and tell everyone I hope you have a great weekend!

Also, I think I might have figured out what was causing a lot of you to have problems commenting. I *think* it is fixed now.

NC Science Center

As I mentioned earlier this week, Sunday we took a little drive to Greensboro, NC for a visit to the NC Natural Science Center. It was kind of like a small zoo mixed with a science museum.
We had never been there and when we found out they had tigers we knew we had to go.
Admission was half price because we are zoo society members, and I've told you what zoo nerds we are before.

We started our tour outside because we knew the day would heat up fast. We saw tortoises first thing. (Remember Mort? Mort, was cool.)

These were African tortoises and another type I couldn't pronounce so I can't remember it. :)

One tortoise started trying to flip another one over. A sign said that they do this when they are feeling territorial. As small as their environment is, I'd think Mort's cranky doppelganger would be over it by now.

Oh and BabyCakes does NOT like riding in the stroller anymore.  I can't really blame her.  You can see so much more when you are out of it.

It wasn't long before we either had to go home or let her jump ship the stroller.

Occassionally she had to be reminded that if she wouldn't hold hands she wasn't going to walk, though. Clearly she took it all very seriously.

After checking out the other wild animals and the petting zoo area,

we went in the air conditioned areas of the Science Center.

We saw this guy, who terrified BigBoy (even though he has a "dinosaur room" at home).

And his much smaller cousin. (not so scary.)

There was other stuff, too, but I didn't take many indoor pictures, and I don't think you really care anyway. :)

It was a nice outing and we will probably go back sometime.

The hubs and I feel quite the kinship with zookeepers these days.

WW Wednesday

I have a confession.
I haven't been doing so well in the weight-loss arena.

I take it back. I haven't really been participating in the weight-loss arena.
Keeping my head above water and barely staying afloat, yes.
Making the changes and choices needed to move forward, no.

I had a tiny gain at the scale today. I'm glad I did, though. Something needed to light that match.
I know I've said it before, but that's life baby.
There's no straight line to success.
There's no first draft that's given a Pulitzer.

Life is all about detours and revisions. If you are looking to me to be a saintly example of, well, anything really, then you will be sorely disappointed.

I will tell you that I'm still here. I still went to my meeting.  I'm writing my WW Wednesday blaaaahg.
I've learned what was bothering me/ holding me back, and I've resolved to fix it.
I'm not beating myself up over slow progress or wasted time.

My plant may have died, but look at that!
Aunt Caroline replaced it with something even prettier.

Everything's coming up roses after all.

*Edited on Thursday: Neighbor Melissa, my WW buddy, says I'm being too hard on myself. That I haven't checked out as much as I thought I had. Upon reflection, I think she may be right.
So anyway, just thought I'd lighten this up a bit and let you know things aren't as dire as I might have made them seem. :)

Picnik

I have a new toy! I just discovered Picnik, a free photo-editing tool through Picasa (also free) and I love it! Here are a couple "polaroids" from an outing this weekend.

I'll go more into detail later this week, but I wanted to share a snapshot of our day for now. :)

There are so many new editing tools I can't wait to try!
Yeah, you're going to be tired of my photos by the end of this week.

See you back tomorrow for WW Wednesday!

Whiting-out my (bedding) mistakes

Like many people, my bedroom has become the last room in my house to be "finished."
I thought I was done a couple years ago with this look:

But it had issues. I got the lamps and bedding at Linens n Things at their Going out of Business sale. The gold lamp shades ended up clashing with the wall color and the cheapo comforter was coming apart on the underside. We didn't even use it at night. I had to fold it up and lay it to the side.
Also, the poster over the bed was okay, but J always said he wished we had one of my photographs up there.

So anyway, after a few changes, now we're at this:
(And I love it!)

I already had white bed sheets and so I just bought an inexpensive down-alternative comforter. I've always thought white fluffy beds looked so inviting.
Next I hunted around for almost a year (you think I kid) at yard sales, thrift stores, and anywhere that sells lamps. I really wanted to do it on the cheap but I very much did not want to buy yet another pair of lamps that weren't my favorite.
I ended up buying the lamps and shades at Target and never looked back. I'm thrilled with them!

The pillow was a recent HomeGoods find. I wanted something for my bed that was comfy, not pricey, and went with my beach photograph above the bed without being matchy-matchy. The design kind of reminds me of the sun but I see at is more of a nondescript botanical and I've told you I love those before.
I'm currently working on the other walls of the room. (I still have window treatments and wall art to finish up...and I've lived in this house for 3.5 years!) I'll show them to you as I get them completed.

I love that all I have to do in the morning is straighten out the blanket, adjust the pillows a bit, and throw the "pretty" one on top real quick. It takes literally less than 10 seconds and happily greets me when I walk in the room.
Simple and pretty, just how I like it.

Thoughts?