OMG - I just realized mocha74 is back!!! Geez - I remember you from WAY back Jess! It's great to have you back.

I didn't do very good food wise, as you all know due to my anniversary dinner. Then on Sunday my son and I were at a friends house and she got taco bell (which I don't even like!) but I was super hungary and hadn't eaten yet and she didn't have any food in her house!
I'm not excersing yet, b/c my husband is working so much overtime that I can't get to the gym and my son has been sick and makes me hold him all day. and he's not napping mcuh either. I do funny stuff, like lift him pver my head 30 times, or lay him on my legs and do leg lifts, and I also only use the upstairs bathroom so that I'm running up and down the stairs as much as possible. I'm hopinng that after the holidays adn after dh goes back to working normal I'll be able to get more active.

Allensmom, the stuff you're doing with your little guy is PERFECT! I still do that stuff with mine and he's 19 months old now...and loves it! My hubby's working in Louisiana so I understand what you mean about it being hard to work out when hubby's working and you've got a little one to take care of! If you ever need a little extra support PM me!

OK girls, I ACTUALLY DID IT...I successfully created an exercise club with my co-workers!!! We're going to have two groups that meet 3x per week in different places to walk/jog for an hour or so, and will probably come up with some type of competition, maybe get some t-shirts made, etc. I just hope everyone stays as positive and excited about it as they seem right now...today is our first meet!

I love chasing around my 15 month old.. Its so much fun, esp when she giggles cause her mommy is chasing her. I lift her over my head, and do the leg thing also. We have a bathroom up and downstairs, but I run upstairs for the extra activity! Allensmom and notFATCHRISTY~ LOL looks like we have a lot in common, or should I say a LOT on our hands!!

Other then that holiday went ok I dint over eat and didnt drink to much but didnt make it to the gym either.. oh well I started again today/yesterday!
Hope everyone is haveing a good tuesday.......

LOL...folks have been telling me to change my username all over the place so it's finally done!

Is it really only Tuesday? You've got to be kidding. I'm ready for another weekend. Yesterday BF, another friend, and I drove to "the big city" (1 1/2 hours from here) to visit an older (79) friend in the hospital who just had hip replacement surgery. Wooo he's on a lot of painkillers right now, but should be ok. I staved off the votes for fast food for lunch and we went to a deli but ended up with a semi-greasy wrap and some fries for dinner. I didn't eat much during the day so I didn't overeat calorie-wise, it just wasn't the healthiest. And today was my weigh-in and I'm finally down a pound! I was stuck at 144 for, what, a month I think? I hope I can keep the scale moving in the right direction!

My mom called me yesterday and asked me point-blank about grad school, so I had to admit I've tenusouly decided not to apply for fall 2006. Even after I had that big breakdown, oh, 2 months ago (if anyone here remembers) when I decided I just didn't want to go I've sorta been wobbling back and forth. What if I'm not making the right decision, or what else am I going to do with my life? I've been out of school 1 1/2 years already, what if it just gets too late to go back? Even though I've lived in Florida 1 1/2 years I still don't feel at "home", even though BF and I are madly in love and that's helped a lot. I live in a very rural area and there aren't a whole lot of career opportunities here. It makes me worry that I'm basing too much of my life around a man. Conundrum...

Christy, I love the new name! And good luck with the exercise club.

Jenna, I'm so sorry to hear about your BF. Boys are stupid.

I'm gonna go for my lunchtime walk. Maybe it will help clear my head.

Megan - I remember your post about grad school. You know, it's never too late to go back to school. And being a grad student who is dropping out at the end of the year, I will say that I firmly believer that if you are not 100% sure you want to go to grad school, you shouldn't go! I know what you mean about the BF/career thing . . . I am lucky because my BF moved with me when I started grad school, but now we are in a different situation. I know that it would be best for our careers probably to both move back to California, but what is best for your career isn't neccisarily (OMG I totally forgot how to spell that) best for YOU. We decided that right now it is more important to us to be in a comfortable job and be able to buy a house and get married, than to get a job at a big-name company. I feel the same way about being in grad school kind of -- like if I got a PhD, I would have a very respectable career, but I would have to put off having a family and everything until I was at least 30, which is not something I want to do! Besides, I don't even want that career, I really just want to do something simple. I think any job is respectable as long as you are doing honest work. All it has to do is pay the bills.

I think nowadays more women are choosing family over career again, because we feel like we've been told that having a family is anti-feminist or something. In my case I almost feel like I'm sticking it out in computer science not because I like the field, but because there are so few women in the field that I feel like if I leave it will be a failure for women. Really, you just have to do what you want. And if your BF and you are really in love, and that is important to you, I don't think there's anything wrong with choosing a life with him over grad school. And you know, if you guys are in it for the long term, and you decide at some point that you need to move to get your career on track, then he ought to follow you wherever you need to go.

Whoa, sorry for the novel! I didn't mean to write so much, I just kept rambling!

Thank you, Paperclippy! I try to eat food that is unprocessed and natural as well as healthy in and of itself....Whole Foods is a great store to check out if you haven't already. They have tons of organic, whole food options. I'm not sure if they're located in Providence, so you might want to check into that.

Here in Arizona's East Valley we have tons of health food stores, besides Whole Foods, to choose from and produce is a lot cheaper than it is on the east coast, which makes eating healthy pretty affordable. Luckily for me, I actually like to eat the foods that happen to be healthy for me - fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean protein, beans, yogurt, etc. Currently, I'm in love with Mediterranean cooking, so I've been reading through a lot of recipes online. Moroccan, Egyptian, French, Italian, Greek....the more I read about these regions, the more I think that I should have been born there instead of in America.

As far as the recipe goes, my Mom says that all you need is 1 peeled, cubed butternut squash and cranberries - canned or dried. I could have sworn she drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil over the mixture once it's in the pan, but she says no olive oil. She's never used the fresh variety in this recipe, so she doesn't know if they would cook correctly. If you use dried, you should add a little water to the pan. So, all you do is spread the cranberry evenly (1 can of cranberries for a medium to large squash is more than enough) amongst the butternut squash cubes in an oven-safe dish (we use glass pyrex), put it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 1 - 1 1/2 hours and voila...you have a healthy veggie dish. It smells heavenly and tastes even better. You'll know that it's done when the squash becomes tender. It can't get any simpler, which is a good thing!


And TheNewChristy....That's MUCH better....

Edited to remind everybody that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is on ABC tonight. Check your local listings for airtimes. Here is a description:

Good lord Tuesday only!

I was down another pound this morning. Apparantly not working out helps me lose weight, hehe. I am sure that wouldn't last for long.

Christy, I am so glad you changed your name! I love it!

Who needs a therapist when you have 3fc?

Paperclippy, thanks for all the food for thought. I've been having a lot of the same thoughts for months but never seem to come up with any conclusions. I keep hoping that all the sudden, bam, the solution will become clear. But of course I know it won't! I guess for now I'm just having fun for a few years - I can pay my bills, have a steady job, and actually sleep and am taking a lot better care of myself than I used to. I've been talking w/ a co-worker friend who pointed out that if I'm bored w/ my job, I have the luxury of being able to propose new research projects to my very supportive boss. So I think I'm going to write up a research proposal to shake up my work life a little bit, and talk to my boss about switching off some projects that I've been working on for quite a while and are getting boring (I'm a marine research assistant).

Stephanie, yay, another pound!

Jenn, thanks for the reminder. I love a Charlie Brown Christmas! He loves that scrawny lil' tree so much.

I think I'm headed home a little early today. Have a great day everyone!

I just can't stop posting today! I just checked my horoscope after my last post and it says: "While the people around you learn how to be flexible, all you can do is wait." How perfect! Hello BF! I wonder if I showed him my horoscope if he would get the idea - since his holiday plans could be more flexible than mine, but he won't change them, and about my career! But I have to wait? Doh. Just kidding....

Oh my gosh. So many posts I can't keep up I'm actually glad they monitor internet use at my work or else I would be on here all day and never get any work done

PaperClippy (Jess) – That’s so funny how we signed our names the same. I go by Jess, Jessie, Jessica etc. Whatever. Not a big deal to me. I’m Jessie or Jess at work and to my more recent friends. My older friends call me Jessica and my boyfriend calls me Jess. I answer to them all Unfortunately I’m not in sunny So Cal but in Northern California by San Fran. It has been in the 30’s at night which is freezing too me. I’ve been sleeping in thermals, sweats, socks and sweatshirts. I couldn’t imagine living in an area that gets colder than 30. Even though I would love to have some snow

Stacy – Eeek Calculus!!! I’m glad I never had to take that in college! I think I would need lots of coffee to take that class

Jenna – So sorry to hear about you and the BF. No matter what the outcome make sure you come out strong and stay positive. I know its hard when going through situations like this but you can do it. We are here for you!

Stephanie – Lucky you not having to take your Bio final. I guess doing extra credit does pay off. Damn why didn’t I do that when I was in school! I also get in the same frame of mind as you with the exercise. When I was close to goal I was soooo happy w/my weight that I just didn’t really care. Stopped exercising. Stopped watching portion control. Stopped visiting 3FC! Stopped everything that had to do with my goal. It was horrible because I gained back 25 lbs!!! I’m sure you won’t fall into the same thing that I did. Your still losing even without the exercise so that’s great!!!!

Bearcatmo – I’m so jealous of your month long lay off! Darn it. How cool would that be?!?!? DO you have some cool projects lined up?

Jenicra – Yes I’m back!!! I feel like such a traitor  I got so caught up in looking for a new job and then when I got the new job dealing with all the new responsibilities and then looking for a new place to stay. Now I’ve gained weight and am trying to get back down. I’m so glad to see that you are still on the boards and doing well!!! It’s nice to see old friends Good job for getting those 2 gym days in a row. Sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate. Glad the semesters almost over.

Allensmom – Oh good job with fitting in exercise wherever you can get it. It must be tough with a little baby. Keep up the good work

Christy – Wow, good for you on the exercise club! That shows a lot of initiative and really shows how committed you are to this. Love the new username!

Justforus- Even though you didn’t exercise you still did well with not overdoing it. That’s an accomplishment in itself.

Megan – I know what you mean about ready for another weekend. When I woke up this morning I thought it was Wednesday. Boy was I bummed to finally realize it was only Terrible Tuesday! Good job for the lb. lost!!! Oh and Paperclippy said it perfectly about the BF situation. She’s a smart cookie . I second what she say’s! I currently live w/my bf and have a good job. I work steady hours but know if I wanted to I could really move up faster. However, I choose to do a good job at work but not work overly long hours because I want to spend time with my bf and puppy. Right now that is more important to me. Hanging out with friends, family and bf is more important

Well i didn't hit my 500 minute mark yesturday, but hopefull i'll hit it today.
I went for a run last night and had to turn around after 10 minutes because i thought my nose and hands were going to fall off. SO cold!
BrrRr.. It looks like it back to the gym for me, a bit warmer in there!

Anyone do saunas in here? I want to do it to get rid of toxins in my body, but i wanted to know what you thought of it? I've never done them. Are they safe?

Trns - There was a sauna in 2 of the gyms I worked at. They're perfectly safe as long as they're maintained correctly, cleaned and all that. And you have to make sure you don't stay in too long and bring water in with you as well as make sure you're hydrated before you go in. I never used them, no particular reason why though.

They have one in the locker room at my 24hr fitness but since i go late at night and theres always people cleaning the place anyway.. it's kind of empty and a bit freaky to lock yourself in something. hehe. Do you know if its safe to bring in an ipod? I'm thinking no.